In 2018, Dave Cappuccio, an analyst at Gartner offered a startling prediction about the then-future of the enterprise data center: by 2025, 80% of enterprises will have shut down their traditional data center, vs. 10% that have already shut down data centers to date. The projected demise of the enterprise facility was thought to directly correlate with the rapid growth of the cloud under the premise that hyperscale would ‘free’ companies from the infrastructure investment needed to keep the ‘aging’ data center from reaching obsolescence.

To play its part as a mission critical asset supporting the modern, agile and digital-first enterprise, its data center needs to evolve into a higher form of itself. But is this possible, or even desirable in the cloud age? And, how will the vastness of colocation business strategy from ‘build-to-suit’ to ‘edge’ impact the capacity planning, data center performance and operation of the enterprise data center?