According to Gartner, there are four major trends shaping the future of cloud, data center and edge infrastructure. At the Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Cloud Strategies Conference in Sydney, Australia on May 15-16, 2023, these trends were discussed. In a time of economic volatility, I&O teams must be able to adapt to new technologies and methods.



One important factor highlighted by Paul Delory, Vice President Analyst at Gartner, is the role of I&O teams in reducing the effects of economic and geopolitical changes. Although firms may not face significant IT infrastructure challenges due to these dynamics in 2023, I&O teams will play a crucial role in managing them. Therefore, Delory suggests that enterprises use this year as an opportunity to re-evaluate and improve their infrastructure.

The first trend identified by Gartner is the optimization and refactoring of cloud infrastructure by cloud teams. Despite the widespread adoption of public clouds, many installations have been poorly executed. I&O teams can review their cloud infrastructure this year with the aim of improving efficiency, cost, and resilience. Gartner advises focusing on cost optimization, resilience building, cloud infrastructure use, and modernization to minimize supply chain interruptions. By 2027, 65% of application workloads are expected to be prepared for cloud delivery, up from 45% in 2022.

The second trend is the need for new types of infrastructure, driven by new application architectures. I&O professionals must embrace innovation and investigate other choices to address evolving requirements. This includes serverless edge designs, non-x86 architectures for specialized workloads, edge infrastructure for data-intensive use cases, and the integration of 5G mobile services. According to Gartner's prediction, by 2026, 15% of on-premises production workloads will operate in containers, up from less than 5% in 2022.

The third trend noted by Gartner is the adoption of cloud concepts by data center personnel. Platform-based colocation service providers are replacing traditional colocation providers in data centers, allowing businesses to achieve service-centricity and economic models similar to the cloud within their on-premises infrastructure.

By 2027, 35% of data center infrastructure will be controlled using a cloud-based control plane, up from less than 10% in 2022. I&O experts should prioritize building cloud-native infrastructure inside data centers, moving workloads to colocation facilities or the edge, and adopting as-a-service models for physical infrastructure.

Some specific aspects of the trends in cloud and data center infrastructure.

Edge Computing:
Edge computing is revolutionizing the way data is processed and analyzed, particularly in the context of IoT devices and applications. This trend involves the use of localized computing resources, located closer to the data source, to enable faster response times and reduce the burden on centralized data centers. It facilitates real-time analytics and decision-making, making it ideal for applications such as smart cities, autonomous vehicles, and industrial automation. The infrastructure to support edge computing includes micro data centers, edge servers, and networking equipment deployed at the edge of the network, often in remote or distributed locations.

Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments:
The trend towards hybrid and multi-cloud environments reflects the recognition that different workloads and applications have varying requirements in terms of performance, compliance, and data locality. This trend is driving the need for seamless integration between on-premises infrastructure and multiple public and private cloud providers. Organizations are increasingly leveraging a mix of cloud services, such as infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS), to optimize their IT resources and meet evolving business needs.

Software-Defined Infrastructure:
Software-defined infrastructure is transforming the way data center resources are provisioned, managed, and orchestrated. This trend involves the abstraction of hardware resources and the automation of their configuration and management through software control. It enables greater flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency, as resources can be dynamically allocated based on demand. Software-defined infrastructure encompasses software-defined networking (SDN), software-defined storage (SDS), and software-defined data centers (SDDC), creating agile and programmable environments that can adapt to changing workload requirements.

Security and Compliance:
The evolving threat landscape and increasingly stringent regulatory requirements are driving the trend towards embedding security into every layer of cloud and data center infrastructure. This trend encompasses the adoption of advanced security technologies such as encryption, zero-trust networking, and identity and access management (IAM). Compliance with standards such as GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 is also a key consideration, shaping the design and operation of infrastructure to ensure data protection and privacy.

Sustainability:
The trend towards sustainable infrastructure reflects the industry's commitment to reducing the environmental impact of data centers and cloud services. This trend encompasses initiatives to improve energy efficiency, minimize carbon emissions, and increase the use of renewable energy sources. It also involves optimizing cooling systems, adopting modular and energy-efficient hardware, and implementing resource-efficient data center designs.

They suggest that by 2026, 15% of workloads will run in containers, but with the current resistance to change, I'd be surprised if we even hit 10%. The idea that cloud-based control planes will dominate data centers is a fantasy for many organizations still grappling with outdated infrastructure. Instead of chasing these shiny new trends, I&O teams need to face the harsh reality of their environments.
Are we really ready to embrace serverless and edge computing, or are we just paying lip service to buzzwords?