Why Data Centers will Likely Never Decrease in Size

Today technology has changed dramatically, offering more powerful processors in more compact packages. Not only have the processors themselves dramatically decreased in size, but the entire units they are contained within have as well. Even though the size of the processor certainly helps, the integration of key controllers and other components into the CPU chip has made it less necessary to have a large motherboard. Given the way this technology has made huge leaps over the past ten years, it is not unreasonable to expect these Systems On a Chip (SOC) to make their way into glasses or other unconventional pieces of everyday technology. However, data centers will likely not follow suit, and there are quite a few reasons why this is so.

Internet Keeps Getting Faster and Faster

Fast Internet connections are becoming more necessary every single day because of the demand that new cloud technologies put on them. Luckily, constantly accessing the Internet has made everything much more convenient and portable than before, but at the same time this has made creating a more robust infrastructure much more important than before. Every single day, there are upgrades being done to the systems that route our information from one source to another, but these are much different than one would normally think. While GLC-T modules are being forced into smaller areas so a collection of high-speed cords can be bunched together more easily, the processors and hardware boxes are not decreasing in size at all.

Portable vs. Data Center Technologies

The primary difference between portable technologies and data center technologies is the difference in need of overall performance. Data centers are designed to process information as fast as they possibly can, and they need to have enough room so that they can be worked on when needed. While having more components on an SOC within a phone makes it less likely to have future problems, it also is a double-edged sword because it means the processor is not as fast as if it were completely by itself. This also makes it next to impossible to upgrade it since all the interfaces are limited to what that single chip provides. If anything must be upgraded to a new standard, the entire mobile device must be replaced with a brand new one.

Flexibility is Important to Data Centers

Data centers rely a lot on flexibility since SFP Modules and other hardware must be swapped out relatively often. When a new standard comes around, it is typically compatible with the plugs that are being used with the older technology, so it can be easily interfaced with the system. Power savings is also not an issue like it is in mobile hardware, and as such keeping the components separate does not affect the usability at all.

Eric Blair writes about data centers and fiber optic technology available from www.fluxlight.com that improves the performance of the Internet and other processes associated with computer networks.