Intellect calls for a better understanding of the data centre industry

The lack of a coherent data centre policy within businesses and government could restrict future economic growth and the smooth delivery of public services in the UK. In a report published today Intellect, the trade association for the UK technology industry, warns that a growing number of hurdles are threatening the ability of the data centre industry to keep pace with the rapid increase in data volumes and calls on government to improve dialogue between industry and policy makers.

The UK’s reliance on data centres will intensify over the coming years, in line with the development of the knowledge economy. Research from IDC expects the number of servers worldwide to increase by almost 18% per annum until 2020 – an increase from 18 million (in 2008), to 122 million. But restrictions, particularly in the environmental, energy and planning policy spaces, are hampering the industry’s ability to provide the UK with significant capacity.

Carrie Hartnell, Head of Industry at Intellect said: “Data centres underpin most business and government applications and are the lifeblood of key sectors such as financial services, utilities and telecommunications. The stated ambition of the UK to become a leading knowledge economy and a global leader in digital communications will require the necessary infrastructure, including an increased capacity to handle higher volumes of data. Not having a clear policy for the data centre industry is potentially harmful to the UK’s ability to grow coming out of the recession.

We can’t ignore the big environmental issues either, but there are plenty of innovative solutions coming out of the sector which, coupled with co-operation of a new dedicated government energy taskforce that we’re calling for, would go a long way to squaring off environmental tensions and economic need.”

Intellect makes five recommendations in the report which aim to create a better understanding between industry and government:

• Intellect calls for regular dialogue with policy makers to enable more effective regulation and legislation which take into account the capacity, needs and impact of the industry.
• Government should lead by example and establish best practice standards for its data centre operations which guide industry on the right balance between security, environmental and resilience requirements.
• A data centre taskforce should be established with government, the energy regulator Ofgem, National Grid and network operators.
• Government should clarify guidelines for the industry around planning regulation.
• Environmental policy making should consider the net impact of data centres and the carbon reductions they enable other sector to make.

Download Data centres: The backbone of the UK economy (PDF 2MB)

Find out more at: Data Centres Group

If you would like to discuss these areas get in touch with: