DATA CENTRES
What are data centres?
At its simplest, a data centre is a physical facility that organisations use to house their critical applications and data. A data centre’s design is based on a network of computing and storage resources that enable the delivery of shared applications and data.
Without many of us even knowing, data centres have become the heartbeat of the many applications and transactions we carry out in our daily lives.
Almost anything that involves a smartphone, computer or any other electronic device requires a data centre to ensure that it functions correctly. From social media, to working from home or using contactless payments, data centres are at the core of their functionality.
Critical infrastructure
Union Park, like other data centres, is an essential component for the functioning of the modern economy. Despite this, the actual number of data centres in the UK is relatively low.
Data centres have a pivotal role to play in supporting the UK to achieve its ambition to create the new high skilled tech jobs of the future. But they are much more than that – data centres are critical infrastructure for the functioning of everyday social and business interactions. It is for these reasons why the UK Government announced earlier this year that it would class data centres as Critical National Infrastructure.
The growth of data generated by business, academic institutions and the population including through social networking, video on-demand TV and body warn video used by the police has driven the demand for data storage and processing requirements. According to the latest data, Whatsapp users send 1 billion messages per day and Mastercard credit cards are used in about 18 billion transactions worldwide, which is only a drop in the ocean of data being generated.
The critical role of data and data centres was brought into even sharper focus during Covid-19 restrictions. Huge sections of the population were required to make the switch to working and socialising remotely, much of which has carried through beyond the pandemic to be part of the normal functioning of society and the economy.