Fast forward to the future of data storage

Corporations couldn’t exist as we know them without data centres backing their operations. Knowing where technology and infrastructure is heading, we imagine the future for data centres to be revolutionary.

In 2002, online retailer Amazon began quietly rolling out a suite of online services for web developers, giving them access first to data storage and then to computing power that they could access over the internet.

The idea at the time was to help free developers from worrying about whether their data was safe, secure and available, and allow them to “focus on innovating with data, rather than figuring out how to store it.”

Nearly two decades later and “cloud computing” has changed the tech and business landscape forever, playing a key role in most companies’ IT operations. The term cloud computing refers to computer servers that are accessed over the internet. Every time you watch Netflix, access your iCloud photos or collaborate on a document with a colleague, you are using cloud computing.

Those cloud computing servers run in data centres, which are physical buildings home to vast arrays of computers and networking equipment. Many companies also access data centres directly, hosting their hardware in these purpose-built facilities with professional management.

AMP Capital last year made its first data centre acquisition on behalf of investors in its global infrastructure equity funds, buying US-based Expedient which runs data centre and cloud computing for 1,200 customers.