Equinix Predicts Top Five Trends To Impact Digital Infrastructures

Equinix, the global interconnection and data centre company, predicts hybrid multi-cloud, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, data regulation and sustainability will be key factors influencing how organisations undergo digital transformation

The top five trends to dominate the digital future of enterprises in 2020 include:

1. Distributed infrastructure and edge computing will accelerate hybrid multi-cloud adoption – Equinix anticipates edge computing will be a key driver in accelerating hybrid multi-cloud adoption across every business segment worldwide, which in turn will also enable the rapid progression of other emerging technologies, such as 5G mobile communications.
2. AI and IoT will drive new interconnection and data processing requirements at the edge – Equinix predicts enterprises will accelerate the adoption of AI and machine learning for a broader set of use cases, requiring increasingly complex and more real-time-sensitive processing of large data sets originating from multiple sources.
3. The rise in cybersecurity threats will require new data management capabilities – With the increase in cybersecurity attacks and data privacy and protection regulations, most companies are now moving toward accessing cloud services over private networks. As such, Equinix predicts that new data processing capabilities will allow enterprises to run their computation in a secure manner.
4. Data regulation will influence enterprise IT strategies – Equinix believes we will see further complexity in protecting personal data as global trends toward stricter or new data privacy regulations continue to gain momentum, making it more difficult for global companies distributed across multiple markets to navigate. This prediction follows the recent global survey commissioned by Equinix, of over 2,450 IT decision-makers across the world, where 69% of respondents listed “complying with data protection regulations” as a top priority for their business.
5. Digital transformation will provide a foundation for a more sustainable world – Equinix predicts sustainability will likely be a top initiative for world-class organisations, as stakeholders increasingly look to digital businesses to lead and innovate in areas of environmental responsibility and sustainability. This is in line with results from the aforementioned survey, which found that 42% of IT decision-makers agree the “greenness” of a company’s suppliers has a direct impact on their buying decisions.

Justin Dustzadeh, Chief Technology Officer, Equinix said, “We are at an exciting inflection point in the history of interconnection, as the pace of digital transformation continues to accelerate and as cloud-native distributed infrastructure and hybrid multi-cloud deployments become the de facto architecture of choice. The ability to securely manage and process data at the edge, while having direct, secure and low-latency connectivity to partners and cloud ecosystems, is ushering new opportunities for organisations to create greater value to users and customers, and benefit society in new ways.”