Our daily lives, the activities of companies and the functioning of states depend on digital data and its application. Fewer and fewer organisations and institutions could manage without it. Here are five major currents steering data management today.
In their level of security, modern data centers sometimes already resemble security agencies. Photo: Tõnu Tunnel.
1. Data security and encryption
Data interests dishonest actors for various reasons: simply stealing information, demanding ransom by locking data, or obstructing the activity of companies and institutions for political or economic ends.
The encryption systems in use today are based on technology developed in the 1970s, but the arrival of quantum computers has greatly increased the capability to crack secrets. That is why the need grows to adopt a modern, secure and resilient encryption system. The Estonian state, for example, recommends that when new information systems are created, 10% of the project's cost be planned for cybersecurity.
Just as important as cybersecurity is physical security: keeping IT equipment out of the reach of wrongdoers. High cybersecurity is of little use if unwanted persons can reach the servers to damage, copy or manipulate data. Modern data centers set the example here, sometimes already resembling security agencies in their level of security: high fences fitted with sensors, armed guards, hundreds of cameras with motion and thermal sensors, biometric authentication, and the list goes on. We have written on the blog before about the most secure data center in the Baltics.
2. Server reliability
We live in an era where people are used to getting everything here and now. Companies therefore also expect their IT systems to be constantly online and available. Ensuring server reliability has thus become exceptionally important in data management. Even an outage of a few hours can mean damage running into hundreds of thousands for a company.
So IT equipment is increasingly kept in a data center or with a service provider that guarantees the machines duplicated power and communication connections and cooling capacity. That means a single fault cannot disrupt the operation of the system. The importance of reliability has also been vividly illustrated by outages in the services of the largest public cloud providers, which showed how dependent we are on the availability of IT systems.
An important part of reliability is also backing up data and storing it in physically different locations. That can prove a vital lifeline in the event of a ransomware attack or a major natural disaster, for example.
In short, the heads of organisations expect fault-free operation and constant availability, because every second costs.
3. Artificial intelligence
As the volume of data grows, so does the need to analyse it. To go beyond the limits of human capability, artificial intelligence is increasingly applied, as it can do more at once and faster. One good example is security systems and facial recognition, where AI can deal with thousands of people at once when needed. Another good example is logistics and supply chains, where a machine can weigh up considerably more alternatives than a whole department of staff.
AI also has a growing role in managing infrastructure. In the greenest data center in the Baltics, for instance, the operation of the cooling systems is optimised by a machine capable of learning, which can not only react but also predict where more cool air needs to be directed to keep IT equipment at the right operating temperature and where less. Such optimisation means energy savings and carbon not emitted into the air. Contrary to widespread opinion, that does not mean giving up human labour, but making it more effective.
4. Data fabric
Data fabric is an architecture that, with the help of smart and automated systems, facilitates the integration of different data channels and cloud environments. According to IBM, developments in hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and edge computing over the past decade have brought an explosive growth of big data, making the management of organisations even more complex. That in turn underlines the importance of connecting and managing data environments.
Integrating data makes more holistic and data-driven decisions possible. Previously, companies' various data platforms were tailored to specific business areas: there were platforms for HR data, supply chains and customer data, for instance, holding data in different, separate environments despite possible overlaps. A data fabric allows that data to be viewed more uniformly, to better understand the customer lifecycle and create connections. By closing those gaps in understanding customers, products and processes, data fabrics accelerate digitalisation and automation initiatives across all companies.
5. Sustainability
Significant progress has been made in the energy efficiency of data storage over the past 15 years. A chart reflecting the sector average shows efficiency has risen by nearly 40%. Yet more and more energy is spent on storing data every year.
As a clear trend, organisations prefer data centers and providers with a smaller ecological footprint. Growing demand in turn motivates increasing supply, and this positive cycle brings us closer to achieving the climate goals. In addition, ever closer attention is paid to what data needs to be kept constantly available, that is online, at all. Backing up or archiving information also offers good opportunities to reduce the ecological footprint.
A new trend is the creation of renewable energy generation capacity near data centers and the reuse of the heat released in cooling IT equipment. The Baltics' largest data center, for example, is ready, once volumes are sufficient, to supply waste heat for heating the domestic water or premises of nearby households or industries.
In summary, behind these trends lies the desire to make more cross-use of data and to keep IT systems constantly secure, working and at hand. For various reasons (the climate and energy crisis) the energy efficiency of storing and applying data has also come sharply to the fore. A forward-looking leader has to deal with these topics one way or another.