Data Center Technology

AI-Ready Data Centers Become the Baseline

AI is redefining what data centers need to deliver. From model training to large-scale inference, the power and performance demands of AI workloads are pushing traditional infrastructure to its limits. To keep up, organizations are rethinking how they design, power, and connect their facilities.

According to one analysis, only 28% of data centers are currently prepared to support AI workloads at high performance levels. Yet the growth ahead is staggering: 43% of new data center facilities are expected to be dedicated to AI workloads. As AI model training and inference generate massive data movement, experts predict a major leap in bandwidth requirements. In fact, 87% of leaders surveyed expect to need fiber optic capacity of 800 Gb/s or higher per wavelength to keep up.

These trends highlight just how quickly data center priorities are shifting. Preparing for AI-driven workloads now can help your organization scale more efficiently later—by investing in power, cooling, and connectivity that can adapt as demand grows.

Cloud-Smart Hybrid and Multicloud Takes Priority

Cloud-first is giving way to cloud-smart. The idea is simple: run each workload where it delivers the most value for performance, cost, and compliance. Regulated or latency-sensitive tasks may stay on-premises or in a private cloud. When demand spikes, workloads can expand into the public cloud. The priority is to manage everything through a single view and apply consistent policies across environments.

The market is moving in this direction. A global study of more than 1,400 IT decision-makers found that over 90% plan to make significant changes to their cloud approach in the next two years, with hybrid models gaining momentum. In another survey, cloud leaders are about four times more likely to use multicloud, linking the approach to speed and agility.

If you are updating your cloud strategy for 2026, start by writing simple placement rules anyone on the team can understand, covering latency, sensitivity, and total cost. Then enforce those rules with a single governance layer across on-prem, private, and public cloud using native management tools such as Azure Arc, AWS Control Tower, or Google Cloud’s Anthos.

Cyber Resilience Becomes Core Infrastructure Strategy

With global cybercrime losses projected to hit $10.5 trillion in 2025, organizations face relentless pressure not only to prevent breaches but also to recover from them and verify their systems are intact. Ransomware, data extortion, and pervasive credential theft are driving both downtime risk and reputational exposure. Prevention alone won’t suffice if you don’t architect for recovery and prove that you can restore operations quickly and reliably.

That’s why a layered cyber-resilience strategy is now baseline. A zero-trust network architecture assumes every connection could be a threat, restricting lateral movement and enforcing least-privilege access. Immutable backups guarantee that even if data is compromised or encrypted, you have a tamper-proof copy to recover from. And regular disaster-recovery testing, including failover drills, scenario simulations, and validation of business-critical workflows, verifies that those recoveries will work when needed. Together, these three components (prevention, recovery, verification) build the “stack” that shifts you from reactive to resilient—ensuring you’re ready not just to stop the next attack, but to bounce back from it. 

Sustainable Modernization Is a Prerequisite for Growth

Sustainability is shaping where and how data centers grow. Deloitte forecasts that global data center electricity use could roughly double by 2030, with generative AI as a major driver of demand. This means power will be harder to secure, operating costs will face more scrutiny, and stakeholders will expect visible progress on ESG goals. Build efficiency into every plan and make it measurable: start power procurement and coordination with your power provider early, apply proven energy-saving practices, choose sites with reliable power and renewable options, and report progress with simple metrics.

Edge-to-Core Convergence Redefines Operations

Edge is expanding as organizations move more processing closer to where data is created, while training and governance remain in core data centers and the cloud. Many operators expect the number of edge sites to grow significantly by the middle of the decade, according to Vertiv’s research. Managing this expanded ecosystem requires a unified approach, so IT leaders are looking for one framework to monitor, secure, and manage both edge and core environments.

A simple way to start is to standardize the basics and grow from there:
✔  Choose one system of record to monitor key sites and alerts.
✔  Align a short list of policies for access, updates, and backups across edge and core.
✔  Pilot automation for routine tasks like patching and configuration changes, then expand to more locations.

Building the Future of the Data Center

A future-ready data center strategy for 2026 combines AI-ready designs, cloud-smart placement, a layered cyber resilience stack, sustainable modernization, and unified edge-to-core operations. The result is a technology platform that can scale, stay secure, and adapt to challenges as AI use cases and regulations evolve.