Consolidation, colocation, virtualization, and cloud computing: The impact of the changing structure of data centers on total electricity demand

Abstract

The IT industry in general and data centers in particular are subject to a very dynamic development. Within a few years, the structure and components of data centers can change completely. This applies not only to individual data centers (see [27], in this volume), but also to the structure of the data center market at the national or international level. The sizes, types, and locations of data centers are changing significantly because of trends such as the consolidation of data centers, the increasing use of colocation data centers, virtualization, and cloud computing. The construction of large cloud data centers, for example Google in Finland, Facebook in Sweden, or Microsoft in Ireland, is an example of these developments. In consequence, there is an impact on the overall energy demand of data centers. This chapter discusses these developments and the impact on the overall energy consumption of data centers using the example of Germany.