State of the data center 2011

Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson, recently examined the growth and growing importance of the data center and released its 2011 State of the Data Center infographic reflecting those observations.

“Over the last several years, advances in technology, an increased reliance on the Internet and social media as well as an increased focus on energy management initiatives have had a significant impact on the data center world,” said Scott Barbour, business leader of Emerson Network Power. “Data centers are the unsung heroes. This infographic illustrates how our reliance on them has grown exponentially.”

Some of the facts explored in the infographic:

Fueling the Internet: When internet users perform search engine queries, make purchases on their favorite retailer’s website or connect with friends via social media, data centers are making it all happen. For example: $53 Billion in cyber weekend sales is larger than the entire economy of Bulgaria. With so much activity and reliance on the internet, having a reliable data center infrastructure is more important than ever.
How big is it?: This year, mankind will create 1.2 trillion gigabytes (GB) of data, equivalent to 75 billion 16 GB iPods. That’s more than enough for every person on earth to own 10 iPods.
Too big to fail: The growing dependence on the data center means growing consequences of downtime. If all 509,147 data centers went out 2.5 times (based on an average) for a duration of 134 minutes, that would equal 2,842,737 hours of downtime, at a total loss of $426 billion a year. That’s enough to buy every person in Munich, Germany, a yacht. BD+C

The editors of Building Design+Construction present 10 “Great Solutions” that highlight innovative technology and products that can be used to address some of the many problems Building Teams face in their day-to-day work. Readers are encouraged to submit entries for Great Solutions; if we use yours, you’ll receive a $25 gift certificate. Look for more Great Solutions in 2012 at: www.bdcnetwork.com/greatsolutions/2012.

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