Dominic Ward

Throughout history, we have witnessed significant shifts in technology and innovation. The last 50 years alone have seen the advent of the personal computer, the internet, and smartphones, each revolutionising the way we live and work.

In an era where generative AI and deep learning models are swiftly ascending to prominence, we are on the cusp of a transformative upheaval in data center demand. The growing interest in advanced AI technologies is not just a trend, but a harbinger of a new age; necessitating a profound re-evaluation of our data center infrastructure, its energy consumption, and its environmental footprint.

Data gravity refers to the concept that with sufficient scale, a given mass of data attracts more data, which in turn pulls applications and workflows with it. The greater the mass of that data, the more gravitational pull it will have. The term ‘data gravity’ was first coined by software engineer, Dave McCrory, who described the gravitational pull that large masses of data seem to exert on IT systems, drawing an analogy to physics, which posits that objects with sufficient mass will pull objects with less mass towards them.