Growing demand for data processing, evolving digital infrastructures and the adoption of technological innovations are transforming data centres and network infrastructures, with new opportunities and challenges.
Data centers represent the beating heart of the global digital economy, as they host servers, storage systems, network devices, and security equipment, allowing the management and storage of enormous volumes of data and supporting complex operations. In recent years, both data centers and network technologies have undergone a profound transformation, driven by the increasing demand for data processing, the evolution of digital infrastructures, and the adoption of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning.
This change is redefining the technological landscape with significant impacts on energy efficiency, connectivity, and processing capabilities, also implying greater attention to sustainability, adaptability, and resilience.
In addition to traditional enterprise data centers, autonomously managed by companies, models that offer various advantages are progressively emerging. Hyperscale data centers, used by major cloud providers, offer high processing capacity, while colocation data centers allow companies to share fixed costs for management, maintenance, upkeep, and renewal with multiple operators, reducing operational costs.
Moreover, edge data centers, smaller and geographically distributed, reduce latency and are essential for applications such as IoT (Internet of Things) and autonomous driving, while modular models ensure flexibility and scalability, thus responding to temporary needs or emergency situations.
Artificial Intelligence is also revolutionizing the sector, improving resource management and operational efficiency, with one of the main challenges being the cooling of infrastructures. This challenge originates from the growing energy consumption required to meet the demand for greater computing power.
In this sense, advanced solutions such as immersion cooling, evaporative cooling, and free cooling represent sustainable alternatives to traditional data centers, as they reduce the environmental impact.
Telecommunication networks are also undergoing an evolutionary phase, with the spread of 5G redefining the ways devices and infrastructures communicate due to higher data transmission speeds and reduced latency. Currently, 5G operates on the 4G infrastructure network for time and cost reasons, but the gradual transition to native and standalone 5G will ensure superior performance, associated with greater reliability.
Looking to the future, 6G - currently the subject of studies and research - promises to go further. In fact, with ultra-wideband, transmission speeds will reach up to 1,000 Gbps, while latency that will be reduced to just 0.1 milliseconds. This progress will enable increasingly advanced applications such as real-time augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR).
Furthermore, thanks to integration with Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, and blockchain, the 6G standard could have revolutionary applications in the manufacturing, healthcare, and educational sectors. This evolution will make extended hyperconnectivity among millions of devices possible, generating new opportunities for digital transformation. Finally, AI integration has the potential to optimize data traffic and make it increasingly efficient, thus enhancing the resilience and adaptability of data centers.
Progress also includes semiconductors - indispensable for data centers and next-generation networks - which already play a fundamental role. In fact, the growing amount of data processed requires increasingly advanced solutions capable of avoiding connection saturation, with innovations such as AI processors, RF FEM modules, and compound semiconductors (GaAs, InP, GaN, and SiGe) increasing efficiency.
Moreover, the RISC-V (Reduced Instruction Set Computing-version 5) architecture favours developments in AI and machine learning, while silicon photonics allows the integration of optical components with electronic circuits, optimizing bandwidth in data centers.
The evolution of data centers, the expansion of networks, and advances in semiconductors are reshaping the future of data processing and transmission. In this future, sustainability and energy efficiency will play a fundamental role, with innovations aimed at reducing consumption while ensuring increasingly high performance.
Forecasts indicate that the data center market will continue to grow in the coming years, supporting the global increasing demand for connectivity and paving the way for new applications and digital services.
If you want to delve deeper into the topic, read our report on the evolution of data centers and network technologies by Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center - Innovation Intelligence.
To access detailed analyses and case studies
explore the report "Data Center Semiconductors and Communication"
by Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center - Innovation Intelligence
