2022年全球数据中心发展趋势

Data Center Technology Trends for 2022

NOVEMBER 19, 2021 BY LITTON POWER

译者说

持续的疫情下数据中心行业的发展面临机遇和挑战，今后将向自动化、超可扩展性、可持续发展、安全升级等方面明确的演进趋势。

本文作者Litton Power是美国IT行业自由撰稿人，长期专注于科技、能源和政策分析。

对数据中心需求持续增长，部分因疫情导致居家办公，互联网电视和其他智能设备增长推动，数字化转型在形式和规模上也有促进。其它行业的颓势并未蔓延到科技领域，各参与方竞相适应格局的变化。2021年即将结束，我们一起来展望2022年数据中心如何满足客户侧需求的新动向。

The demand for data centers continues to grow, pushed in part by the pandemic workplace, prodded along by internet-enabled TVs and other smart devices, and nudged even further by the changing shape and size of digital information. Slouches don’t last long in the tech industry, and all the players are racing to adapt to a changing landscape. As 2021 comes to a close, we look toward the new year for signs of how the data economy will satisfy its hungry consumers.

目录

行业现状

A Brief Look at the Present

数据中心发展趋势

Emerging Data Center Trends

自动化

Automation

超可扩展性

Hyperscalability

可持续性

Sustainability

边缘计算

Edge Computing

安全升级

Increased Security

良性竞争

Healthy Competition

行业现状

A Brief Look at the Present

2021年是2020年疫情后的反弹年，由于疫情引发的全行业现金流短缺，基础设施支出被抑制了近10%。有需求，但没有钱。

2021 was a rebound year from 2020, when infrastructure spending was stifled by 10% due to an industry-wide cash flow shortage sparked by the pandemic. The demand was there. The money was not.

在2021年一份有关数字基础设施的报告中，不动产巨头CBRE发现美国新的数据基础设施破土动工同比增加了 42%，数据中心服务方今年进行了几项大宗土地购买，为下一阶段发展做好了准备。北弗吉尼亚和达拉斯/ Ft. Worth的储备增长惊人，自2015年以来库存储备增长超过225%。令人惊讶的是，硅谷的增长率翻了一番，很显然当地数据中心不只为满足加利福尼亚湾区的几个社区需求。美国是边缘计算市场增长的热土，使数据中心尽可能接近消费侧。

In a 2021 report on digital infrastructure, real estate analyst CBRE found that new data facilities broke ground at a 42% gain over the year prior, and data center providers made several major land purchases this year, readying themselves for the next phase of development. Northern Virginia and Dallas/Ft. Worth saw spectacular growth in inventory, exceeding 225% inventory expansion since 2015. Surprisingly, this nearly doubled the growth rate in Silicon Valley. However, data centers aren’t just trying to satisfy a few zip codes in Bay Area California. The United States is a hotbed of growth for the edge computing market, pulling data centers as close to consumption as possible.

数据中心发展趋势

Emerging Data Center Trends

虽然世界上一些地区重新进入疫情封锁和启动远程工作环境，但其他地区已经恢复了面对面沟通和校园内正常运作。前者的影响仍在推动数据与消费者的交互方式发生变化。以下是大型科技公司针对数据中心采取的应对方式。

While some parts of the world have slid back into lockdowns and remote work environments, others have resumed normal operations in person and on campus. The effect of the former is still catapulting change in how data reaches its consumers. Here are some of the ways Big Tech is trying to keep up.

01

自动化 Automation

从自动检索存储冷数据磁带的机器人，到在基础设施周边维护安全边界的移动巡检安防机器人，自动化正在进入数据中心 --- 在许多方面它已经存在。疫情产生的一些惯性可远程工作为将机器人技术引入数据中心创造了机会，单只有少量公司能像大型科技巨头那样有能力或有动力在该领域进行试验。

From robots that automatically retrieve cold-storage data tapes, to roving security robots maintaining a safe perimeter around a facility, automation is coming to data centers—in many ways it’s already here. Some of the remote-work inertia generated by the pandemic has created an opening to introduce robotics into data centers, and few companies are as well equipped or motivated to experiment in that field than Big Tech.

IBM对Roomba真空吸尘器进行了试验，为机器人配备了可以测量数据中心温度和湿度读数的传感器。几年前，AOL声称建造了一个小型数据中心，该中心完全无需人员参与即可运行。谷歌则让工业机器人以比人类更快的速度自动销毁退役的硬盘。

Indeed, IBM experimented with Roomba vacuum cleaners, equipping the robot with sensors that would measure data center temperatures and humidity readings. AOL claimed several years ago to have created a small data center that ran completely without staffing. Google put industrial robots to work to automate the destruction of decommissioned hard drives at a rate faster than humans could do so.

随着数据中心规模的扩大，需要管理的硬件和软件总量将远远超过机房人员的能力。短期内，机器人技术可以弥补这一不足，成为人们工具中的另一个利器。从长远来看，全自动托管服务器数据中心可在更高的温度下运行，从而降低冷却和运营成本。

As the scale of data centers increases, the total volume of hardware and software that needs to be managed will far outpace the capabilities of human staff. In the near term, robotics can pick up the slack and become another tool in a human’s kit. In the long term, a fully automated server center could operate at higher temperatures, reducing cooling and operational costs.

02

超可扩展性 Hyperscalability

超大规模数据中心的出现是为了满足大型企业以及 AWS、Microsoft Azure或Google Cloud等云和托管服务提供商的海量数据需求。与零售数据中心不同，超大规模中心通常容纳一个客户，这可解释为什么亚马逊、谷歌和微软占据了整个超大规模市场的50%。通过专注单个客户的需求，可以在基础设施中对数据分层处置，从而可以通过适当的温度控制对具有更密集CPU运算的更高需求数据进行环境分区。

Hyperscale data centers have emerged to satisfy the big data needs of large enterprises, and cloud and hosting providers such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud. Unlike retail data centers, hyperscale centers typically house one client, which would explain why Amazon, Google, and Microsoft occupy 50% of the total hyperscale market. By focusing on the needs of a single client, data can be allocated across a facility in such a manner that higher-demand data with more intensive CPU activities can be environmentally zoned with appropriate temperature controls.

工作负载也可以在服务器之间更有效地平衡，以取代热量产生的方式，或更有效和可靠地分配能量。不要被超大规模的名字蒙蔽—— 这些数据中心并非以大小区别。相反，超大规模数据中心由其客户定义，可最大限度地利用设施的地板面积和资源。

Workloads can also be more efficiently balanced across servers to displace heat production or more efficiently and reliably distribute energy. Don’t let the name fool you—these centers are not distinguished by their size. Instead, hyperscale data centers are defined by its client maximally using the facility’s floor space and resources.

亚马逊在垂直整合其供应链物流组件时独树一帜，从仓储到卡车运输都与众不同。现在它又在做同样的事情，除了1和0 ——为其 AWS产品构建自用超大规模数据中心。远不止如此，预计到 2022 年，整个行业超大规模建设将出现增长，尤其是在中国。

Amazon made waves when it vertically integrated all the logistical components of its supply chain, from warehousing to trucking. Now it’s doing the same again, except with ones and zeros—building its own hyperscale data centers for its line of AWS products. And it’s far from alone, with a projected industry-wide growth in hyperscale construction through 2022, particularly in China.

03

可持续性 Sustainability

“Going green走向绿色”不仅仅是一个行业流行的口号。微软制定了一项积极的可持续发展计划，最终目标是在2030年前实现负碳。这将需要多种方法和途径，详细审查从能源生产到用水。虽然微软正试图采用100%可靠性的可再生能源，但如果不通过现场深井储能来对冲风能和太阳能的波动，该策略难以奏效。部分数据中心已经通过安装特斯拉等供应商的大容量实验电池来应对。一些数据中心业主在对环境的影响方面比同行更透明，许多厂商在努力减少危害和“走向绿色”方面采取了前瞻性做法。

“Going green” is more than an industry buzz slogan. Microsoft has set an aggressive sustainability initiative with the ultimate aim of becoming carbon negative by 2030. This will require a multi-faceted approach, examining everything from energy production to water usage. And while Microsoft is attempting to adopt a 100% reliability on renewable energy, that strategy simply cannot work without deep wells of energy storage on-site to hedge against fluctuations in wind and solar. Some data centers are already implementing such measures, by installing massive-capacity experimental batteries from companies such as Tesla. Some data center owners are more transparent than others about their environmental impacts, but many have adopted a forward-stance on working toward reducing harm and “going green.”

04

边缘计算 Edge Computing

制造商、能源公司、电动汽车、消费者等正在推动对边缘计算的需求。与超大规模数据中心相比，供应商需要变得更小、更分散以更好地服务边缘计算市场。

Manufacturers, energy companies, electric vehicles, consumers, among many others are driving the increased demand for edge computing. In contrast to hyperscale data centers, providers will need to become smaller and more decentralized to serve the edge market.

随着微模块数据中心(MMDC)的出现，戴尔等一些公司将这一点发挥到了极致。这些小型、轻便、完全独立的数据中心，通常专为满足一个客户需求。边缘数据中心通常包括冷却、电源和备份硬件，使其成为满足某个公司数据中心需求的交钥匙解决方案。与其他解决方案一样，MMDC在其应用案例中占据了成本效益的最佳优势，技术的发展正在使这种优势在边缘节点愈发明显。

Some companies, such as Dell, are taking this to the extreme, with the advent of Micro-Modular Data Centers (MMDCs). These are small, portable, fully self-contained data centers designed to serve the needs of one customer at a time. They often include their own cooling, power, and backup hardware, making them a turnkey solution to a company’s data center needs. Like any solution, MMDCs occupy a sweet spot of cost effectiveness for their use case, but technologies like these are bringing the edge ever closer.

05

安全升级 Increased Security

多年来，华盛顿特区一直在警告政府雇员和其他政府有关硬件嵌入式威胁隐私和安全的危险。随着网络威胁越来越普遍，攻击者继续瞄准数据中心—— 名副其实的信息宝藏 —— 这些数据中心正在感受到持续攻击的加剧并做出反应。

For years, Washington D.C. has been warning government employees and other governments about the dangers of hardware-embedded threats to privacy and security. As cyber threats grow more pervasive, and attackers continue to target data centers—veritable treasure troves of information—these centers are feeling the heat and responding to it.

谷歌几年前将芯片级安全性引入其数据中心，于2019年开源了该项目，为整个行业提供相同类型的安全措施。被称为OpenTitan的项目，致力于在芯片级别建设最大的透明度和安全性，并有其它功能，例如在每次启动芯片时会对内存篡改进行自我测试。谷歌已与西部数据和希捷等存储巨头合作开发标准，并将该技术部署在2022年及以后。

Google introduced chip-level security into its data centers several years ago, then open sourced the project in 2019 to deliver the same types of security measures to the industry at large. Dubbed Project OpenTitan, it aims to create maximal transparency and security at the chip level, along with additional features such as self-testing for memory tampering on every boot of the chip. Google has partnered with data giants such as Western Digital and Seagate to develop the standard and deploy the technology into 2022 and well beyond.

06

良性竞争 Healthy Competition

科技是一个要么沉没要么游泳拼搏，非死即活的世界，很少有公司像英特尔一样懂得游泳。服务器CPU市场历来属于这家老牌芯片制造商，但最近AMD与Facebook 母公司Meta之间的交易令其主要竞争对手分到了更大的份额。芯片技术的持续进步并不是这笔交易的唯一因素——这在很大程度上与全球芯片短缺期间AMD硬件的相对连续可供货有关。但AMD和Intel素有不和由来已久，而且肯定会持续到未来。与此同时，英伟达也在奋起直追，凭借其首款名为“Grace”基于ARM的芯片进军数据中心CPU市场。当然，竞争胜负未定，这是2022年和更久之后的事情。

Tech is a sink or swim world, and few companies know how to swim as well as Intel. The CPU market for servers has historically belonged to chip manufacturers, but recent deals between AMD and Facebook’s parent company, Meta, give its primary competitor a bigger bite of the pie. The steady advancement of chip technology isn’t the only factor in this deal—much of it has to do with the relative availability of AMD hardware during a global chip shortage. But the AMD and Intel feud is a tale as old as time, and it will surely continue well into the future. Meanwhile, NVIDIA is making its own plays, venturing into the market with its first data center CPU, an ARM-based chip dubbed “Grace.” Of course, we’ll be well past 2022 before we get a sense of how the competition plays out.

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翻译：

Eric

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