Cyber Growth Constrained by Physical Limits
The cloud is unlimited, or so the saying goes. Turns out that is not true and the problems is not due to software or systems or any technological thing.
It turns out the primary limit is power to data centers. NEW data centers.
Last year new data centers opened that consumed 6 gigawatts of power for machines and cooling and other operational requirements. To put this in scale, one gigawatt would power about three-quarters of a million homes.
But 26 percent of these projects were delayed – late.
This year the plan is for 16 gigawatts of data center power usage to come online. Of that, only 5 gigawatts of capacity has started construction. Granted we are less than two months into the year, but it takes a long time to build and outfit a data center.
Industry experts say that as many as 30 to 50 percent of these projects will be delayed – possibly due to power, permits and construction delays. Construction delays are going to be exacerbated by the mass deportations going on in the U.S.
So, some providers are working on bringing their own power.
Oracle is getting into the small nuclear reactor business. I bet the terrorists are rubbing their hands in glee. Blow up a small nuke going into a data center in Nashville and the city and surrounding area is uninhabitable.
Regulators are, FINALLY, forcing these data center operators to shoulder the bills for this build out rather than consumers. That might not have been forecast by them.
Some states, like Texas, think think they have enough power. Even so, some of those projects are already delayed.
And it is not just the U.S. In Ireland new data centers will be forced to source 80 percent of their power from NEW, RENEWABLE energy sources and maintain 100 percent backup capacity.
You should not assume that these data center providers are going to say that they don’t care about profits. That means that cloud computing costs will go up, at least for the next few years until capacity balances out. That means that all services that use cloud computing will see their costs go up. Some will absorb that; others will raise their prices.
Definitely something for CIOs to watch for sure. We will keep an eye on it. Credit: Data Breach Today
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