Data Centres Are Just As Important As The Power Grid & Healthcare

Uploaded on 2024-10-07 in TECHNOLOGY--Resilience, FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-IT & Telecoms

The recent global IT outage caused by CrowdStrike has shown why keeping Data Centres secure and safe is critical. Data Centres are critical national infrastructure, according to the new British Government, which is adding it to the emergency services, finance and healthcare systems, and energy and water supplies as very important systems.

According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), putting Data Centres on an equal footing to water, energy and emergency services systems will mean the data centre sector can now expect greater government support in recovering from and anticipating critical incidents.

This means Data Centres would receive important government support during a serious incident like a cyber attack, an IT outage or extreme weather, with the aim to reduce and control disruption.

“The government welcomes a proposed £3.75 billion investment in Europe’s largest data centre, as plans have been submitted to Hertsmere Borough Council for construction in Hertfordshire by data company DC01UK which will directly create over 700 local jobs and support 13,740 data and tech jobs across the country,” says a UK Government press release on 12th September 2024.

Data centres are huge warehouses full of vast banks of computers that remotely power services such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, data processing and streaming.

Data Centre development has faced criticism over their energy and water use

But the new Labour government says it backs the sector, with UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle describing data centres as equivalent to the engines of modern life.

There are currently 13 sectors listed as critical national infrastructure in the UK. The list was last updated nine years ago, when space and defence were added.

The previous government launched a consultation in December 2023 to discuss the potential addition of data centres.

A new team of officials will now be set up to specifically monitor potential threats against data centres and coordinate a response in the event of a serious incident.

However there will not be any new regulations, nor is additional scrutiny of data centre operators’ existing contingency arrangements planned.

The need for data centres is growing, in part because of the proliferation of AI-based services, which require considerable computing power.

Recently Amazon Web Services announced it will invest £8bn building and operating data centres in Britain over the next five years.

Microsoft and Google are separately building their first UK operations currently.

But environmental concerns about data centres and their demand on resources remain as they can use vast amounts of energy and can require large quantities of water for cooling.

The National Grid said in March 2024 that data centre power use in the UK would significantly increase over the next 10 years.

Plans to build the data centres also often run into local opposition such as the councillors in Buckinghamshire rejected a proposed development because it affects the green belt.

Image: Unsplash

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