Data centers will become smaller, much denser and powered by sustainably sourced energy, according to a new report, which predicts that in the next ten years the bulk of data center workloads will involve cloud computing.

The report, however, does raise questions about the industry’s employment prospects in the future.

The Data Center 2025: Exploring the Possibilities paper was commissioned by Emerson Network Power and summarizes the opinions of 800 data center professionals from around the world.

It highlights the fact that the diversity of data centers is set to increase, according to Andy Lawrence, VP of Datacenter Technologies and Eco-efficient IT at 451 Research.

Data centers will become analogous to the motor trade, he said.

“Expect to see different kinds of ‘engines’, different types of ‘seating’ [i.e. capacity] and different characteristics in energy consumption and reliability. That is already happening, and I expect it to continue,” Lawrence said.

The rise of the hyperscale data center will create a new class of system with its own characteristics. The report predicts that hyperscale data centers will typically own their own power generation capacity.

Solar will lead, followed by a nearly equal mix of nuclear, natural gas and wind.

Sixty-five percent of the survey sample said they believe it is likely hyperscale facilities will be powered by private power generation by 2025.

Data center experts predict rack density will also soar, from today’s figure of around 6kW per rack to 52 kW per rack by 2025.

According to the Data Center Users’ Group this could radically change the physical environment of the data center.

Industry experts predict two-thirds of data center computing will be done in the cloud in 2025.

And 72% of industry experts predict that IT resource utilization rates will rise to at least 60% in 2025. Estimated averages today put the figure at 6 to 12%.

DCIM
The most common explanation for higher utilization is the expected improvements in data center infrastructure management (DCIM).

Twenty-nine percent of experts said they expect to see comprehensive visibility across all systems and layers, while 43% expect data centers to be self-healing and self optimizing.

“That indicates 72% of the experts believe some level of DCIM will be deployed in 2025,” the reports authors say. This would be significantly higher than most current estimates of DCIM adoption.

Replacing skills with automation
Most experts believe the data center as we know it will undergo massive changes over the next decade, according to Steve Hassell, president of data center solutions at Emerson Network Power.

“The results reflect a level of sophisticated understanding, visionary thinking and genuine optimism that I find inspiring. I believe the true impact of this report lies not only in its measurement of current opinion, but in its ability to spark future innovation.”

However, employment in the data center industry is becoming increasingly precarious. Just under half (43%) of those questioned say they see self-healing systems becoming a reality and the need for skilled staff to manage data centers will diminish.

Around a quarter were not bothered, however, as they anticipate they will be out of the industry (mainly through retirement) by then.