Unmanned datacentres will be commercially operational
and will outnumber manned datacentres as soon as 2012, according
toFujitsu Siemens
Computers.
A growing number of datacentres in the UK run on a "lights out"
basis where operational management is carried out remotely or
automatically. Strategists at Fujitsu Siemens Computers have
predicted that there will be an increased level of
datacentre automation in the not too distant future.
Dave Pritchard, senior technology strategist at Fujitsu Siemens
Computers, said, "Tomorrow's datacentre will resemble more of a
"one man and a dog" set-up - the dog is there for security and the
man is there to feed the dog."
Thanks to
virtualisation, datacentre designs are becoming simpler,
Pritchard said, allowing them to be run remotely.
This trend is set to continue, he said. "Analysis, configuration
and optimisation, all tasks that need personnel to be present, will
gradually become part of the software and systems, removing the
need for people on site," he said.
This could adversely affect datacentre jobs, according to
Pritchard. "Datacentre managers, infrastructure managers,
engineers, analysts and technicians would all be impacted. IT staff
are no strangers to change, but these developments bring change
right into the heart of the IT department."