In a recent interview with Pipeline Magazine, Todd Murren, General Manager of Bluebird Network, commented on how the COVID pandemic has fundamentally shifted the way we work and live our day-to-day lives. Given how businesses have had to adapt to remote working, now more than ever, they are heavily relying on their networks and data flow. The developments that we are seeing are only early indications of what is sure to be an accelerated move toward an increase in remote working and the use of online applications.  

Pressured to adapt and remain ahead of the change, businesses are looking to maintain simplicity wherever possible. As the need for simplicity grows, enterprises are turning to colocation and hybrid models. And as the need for these quick infrastructure deployments are established, new buyer and seller relationships are developing. Today for many businesses, the choice between maintaining on-premises data centers or outsourcing to a colocation provider is becoming clear. Colocation does more than help enterprises achieve optimized security, reliability and agility when compared to on-premises facilities; it also reduces cost and complexity, allowing internal resources to be focused on strategic growth.

If we continue the rate of technology development as exhibited by the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G and edge computing – distribution agreements may be the new frontier of data center consumption. Data centers are now part of an evolving distributed infrastructure topology aimed at helping storage and processing remain closer to the information’s point of origin to ensure the highest levels of performance.

Our amplified and collective reliance on technology must find its niche in the data center industry, and it has already begun to carve a space for itself, perhaps at the expense of traditional models. Time is a luxury for both the customer and the enterprise, which means simplified plug-and-play data center solutions are in demand. Enterprises require a consumer environment that is accessible so they can get a solution quick. As simplicity grows, enterprises are turning to colocation and hybrid models, and as the need for these quick infrastructure deployments becomes established, new buyer and seller relationships are built to serve these timelines. The future holds greater opportunity for delivering more resilient systems and stronger models that will serve us well as we look toward tomorrow.

 You can read the full interview with Todd Murren here.