The data center industry is always evolving, and current trends make evolution more critical than ever. The data center has moved far beyond a simple repository for digital records. Increasingly, its computing, storage, and networking facilities are being used to power complex analytical operations that are becoming essential for competitive advantage and business agility.
This trend is exemplified by the growth in demand for big data applications. These applications involve data sets so large and complex that they cannot easily be processed using traditional computing tools. According to Transparency Market Research, the global big data market is set to grow to over US$48 billion by 2018, which represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 40.5 percent over 2012 spending levels.