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Need for Hyperscale Infrastructure
With massive growth in data consumption and digital services, traditional data center infrastructure is struggling to keep pace. Over the past decade, there has been exponential rise in data as more people get online and use data intensive applications and services like video streaming, social media, cloud computing etc. This has put tremendous pressure on existing hyperscale data centers facilities to support ever increasingcompute and storage demands. Hyperscale cloud providers and mega internet companies needed infrastructure that could scale elastically as their business and user base grew rapidly across the world. Traditional data centers were inefficient to support requirements at that scale. This gave rise to specialized Hyperscale Data Centers optimized for massive scale with highest efficiency.
Facility Design optimized for Scale
Hyperscale Data Centers are purpose built from ground up to support petabytes of data and millions of servers. They are spread over hundreds of thousands of square feet to house thousands of server racks. Cooling infrastructure is also massively distributed to maintain optimal temperature for sensitive server equipment. Hyperscale facilities feature modular and flexible pod based layout allowing separate administrative control over discrete resource pools. This allows elastic scale out by activating new pods independently as business grows. Hyperscale data halls are self sustainable with on-premise power generation using gas turbines and redundant utility feed ensuring continuous uptime. Automation is key design principle to reduce operating costs at hyper scale.
Server and Storage Infrastructure
Hyperscale servers are highly optimized and dense to maximize compute and storage in limited rack space. They are based on commodity hardware using latest Intel or AMD processors with high core count. These servers are tailored for scale out architecture with focus on resource utilization,manageability and efficient cooling. State of the art storage infrastructure in hyperscale data centers leverages newest non-volatile memories (NVMe), flash and even optical storage. Object storage is preferred over file/block for its scale out capabilities. Software defined storage allows dynamic provisioning of pool of storage independently managed from servers. All infrastructure is interconnected using high speed optical networks for low latency internal communication.
Cloud Native Software Stack
Public cloud providers and hyper scalers have developed cloud native software stacks that are distributed, resilient and auto-scaling in nature. This includes tools like Kubernetes for container orchestration, service meshes for communication between microservices, NoSQL databases like Cassandra and MongoDB, serverless computing platforms, AI/ML frameworks like TensorFlow etc. These stacks allow maximum utilization of infrastructure through horizontal scale out of stateless applications. They are optimised for continuous delivery of updates and features. Failure of individual components is handled gracefully due to decentralised architecture. This allows hyperscale data centers operators to innovate rapidly and rollout new services at massive scale.
Energy Efficiency Initiatives
Energy costs form a major operational expenditure for hyperscale operators. They employ various innovations and optimisations across physical infrastructure and software stacks to reduce power consumption and improve efficiency. Hyperscale facilities located near cheap renewable energy sources like solar, wind. Modular pod architecture allows powering down unused sections. Server processors follow rigorous TDP specifications. Software stacks leverage containerization, resource scheduling, right sizing to minimize resource wastage. Innovations in cooling systems include use of outside air economizing, liquid cooling, free cooling chillers etc. All infrastructure including electrical switchgear deployed with highest efficiency ratings. Comprehensive data center infrastructure management systems provide real-time power/temperature telemetry for proactive optimization of infrastructure utilization. Cumulatively, these efforts have made Hyperscale Data Centers among most power efficient in the industry.
New Hyperscale Markets and their Impact
Till recent past, hyperscale developments were limited to few geographies with availability of inexpensive land and power like Midwest USA, Scandinavian countries and China. But growing digitalization and data consumption worldwide is driving emergence of new hyperscale hubs globally. Developed cities like Amsterdam, Dublin, London, Frankfurt are attracting hyperscale campuses of major cloud providers and internet firms. In Asia Pacific, new markets like India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Australia are witnessing aggressive hyperscale data centers expansion. Cloud providers are establishing local edge locations complementing their hyperscale backbone to overcome constraints of latency, data sovereignty and disaster recovery. Rise of hyperscale has major multiplier impact on local digital economies by facilitating growth of startup ecosystem, remote working culture, Research. It also leads to new jobs across engineering, construction, facility management domains.
*Note:
- Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
- We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
