A Look Ahead to 2020: Trends & Beyond
Wow! What a year it’s been. Let’s take a moment to look back at 2019 before we look forward to the start of a new decade.
2019 started with a bang as Element Critical continued its national expansion by acquiring two, yes, TWO Chicago data centers and committed an additional $40 million to expand and upgrade the facilities.
With these acquisitions, Element Critical now operates four data centers in three key geographically dispersed markets encompassing nearly 500,000 square feet of data center space. With additional data centers in Silicon Valley and Northern Virginia, Element Critical intends to continue strategically acquiring properties in primary and secondary markets in the U.S.
So, what verticals did we enter in 2019? Perhaps the better question is which ones didn’t we, and moreover, which ones are we super excited to align to as we continue to optimize our data centers for flexibility colocation consumption models. The industry is seeing huge growth opportunities in A.I., IoT, gaming, and healthcare. Each of these verticals has their unique needs in a data center solution, so it’s critical that data center providers like Element Critical are prepared to offer customized colocation for each of them.
Among all the emerging IoT trends in 2020, both A.I. and Big Data run the show. A.I. and Big Data techniques are needed to access data in real-time. Being able to access this data has helped to improve the efficiency of processes within a business, thus offering enhanced power and visibility to strategize a plan of action. The growing prominence of A.I. and Big Data using IoT is best depicted by these lines quoted by Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.
“If you invent a breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence so that machines can learn, that is worth 10 Microsofts.”
With over 175 zettabytes of data expected by 2025, data centers will continue to play a vital role in the ingestion, computation, storage, and management of information.
For gaming, we look at “Cloud Gaming” & “The 5G effect.”
5G will officially launch in 2020, and it’s certain to bring about a revolution in cloud gaming. High-speed internet will pave the way for game developers to experiment with high quality and high definition graphics for internet gaming.
Gamers hate lag – also known as network latency. As more major gaming services shift to a streaming model, network performance will be critical to keeping customers happy.
Colocating IT infrastructure in close proximity to network providers allows gaming businesses to put their infrastructure on the backbone of the Internet for speed, stability and growth. In turn, this allows them to optimize performance, maintain low-latency and provide resiliency to cope with a sudden surge in users. Cloud gaming, in particular, is dependent on carrier-neutral and carrier dense colocation facilities.
Healthcare, as we know it, is being transformed using the latest technology so that it can meet the challenges facing in the 21st century.
As the world population continues to grow, and age, artificial intelligence, and machine learning offer new and better ways to identify disease, diagnose conditions, crowdsource and develop treatment plans, monitor health epidemics, create efficiencies in medical research and clinical trials, and make operations more efficient to handle the increased demands on the healthcare system. According to Forbes, by 2020, medical data will double every 73 days. McKinsey estimates that there could be $100 billion in annual savings for medicine and pharma by leaning on big data as well as the artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to process it. A.I. algorithms powered by recent advances in computational power learn from the data and can predict the probability of a condition to help doctors provide a diagnosis and treatment plans. Ultimately, A.I. and machine learning can assist with many clinical problems as long as governing and regulatory bodies can determine how to regulate the use of algorithms in healthcare.
To realize the benefits of modern digital technology, the healthcare industry is going to need data centers and IT and compliance specialists to make sure everything is up to code with the world’s ever-evolving privacy and security regulations and best practices.
As of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2014, all public and private healthcare providers — as well as all “eligible professionals” — must transition their practices to electronic health records. The benefits are clear: critical patient histories and records follow patients no matter where they seek treatment, and that same paperwork is less likely to go missing in a transition or due to misfiling.
The increasing need for data storage solutions has come with both initial and recurring expenses for healthcare providers, but the convenience and oversight it has introduced have proven vital to the industry.
Element Critical is looking forward to expanding our horizons into these verticals as our data centers are highly secure, compliant operational platforms. We serve some of the world’s largest companies and government agencies, including several Fortune 100 and Global 2000 businesses that rely on us to provide the data center and I.T. infrastructure solutions underpinning the support of sensitive mission-critical operations.
Be sure to keep your eyes peeled on our upcoming news and announcements. See you in the New Year!
