Data centers are critical, but not in isolation

The protection of data centers alone is of little value

News By Dr. Thomas King published 28 October 2024

In its first Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) designation in more than a decade, the UK government has now announced that data centers should be afforded the same mission-critical status as energy and water systems in a bid to safeguard them against potential threats. This important step aligns with broader European policy, acknowledging the essential role these facilities play in safeguarding data, powering cloud services, and driving technological innovation. 

As reliance on digital services continues to grow, particularly with the surge of AI tools and cloud-based applications, ensuring the security and resilience of data centers has become a top priority for governments and businesses alike. The UK's focus on boosting protections against cyberattacks and system failures highlights the increasing recognition of their role in maintaining societal and economic stability.

However, securing data centers alone is not enough. These facilities are part of a much larger networked ecosystem. Without robust interconnection and network infrastructure linking them together, the data they store and process cannot flow effectively across borders, industries, or platforms. As the world becomes more dependent on digital services, the ability to ensure uninterrupted, high-performance connectivity between data centers and networks is critical – not only for organizations or communities, but for entire economies.

Dr. Thomas King

CTO of DE-CIX.

Is protecting data centers alone enough?

We are currently seeing a massive boom in data center absorption and new construction projects, driven by recent innovations in AI. In the US, for example, our recently published study shows that current construction projects and plans for future projects will see megawatt (MW) capacity in the market grow by 160% in the next couple of years to around 28,000 MW, up from a little over 11,000 MW today. And that doesn’t include any new construction plans from colocation providers or hyperscalers that might be announced next month! We see similar booms all over the world, including the UK.

Data centers house everything from critical business data to the applications that power daily life. But as industries shift more toward AI, machine learning, and cloud services, it’s not the data centers alone but rather in combination with connectivity that are quickly becoming indispensable. This is because the seamless exchange of data is one of the most effective economic drivers in the modern world. The surge in demand for cloud computing, combined with the increasing reliance on AI-driven services, has led to exponential growth in the amount of data generated, stored, and exchanged. This makes the physical and digital security of data centers vital to the smooth functioning of modern society – a fact which the UK, along with its European counterparts, has now formally recognized.

There’s more to this picture, however. It’s not just about the data housed within these centers – it’s about how that data is moved, accessed, and utilized. The value of a data center providing services to enterprises is directly tied to its ability to connect with others through resilient, high-performance networks. Without effective interconnection, even the most advanced data centers struggle to deliver on their promise of real-time applications and low-latency services. In an interconnected global economy, the failure to prioritize connectivity and interconnection security – as well as data center security – threatens not just technological progress, but economic stability as well.

It's time to talk about interconnection

We’ve established the indispensable role of data centers in our IT infrastructure, but in reality their true value is locked until they are seamlessly interconnected. Interconnection platforms – or Internet Exchanges (IXs) – are hubs that encourage the aggregation of networks and cloud services, housed in multiple data centers, and allows them to connect and exchange data directly, bypassing the public Internet. 

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