UII RESEARCH AGENDA | UPDATED JANUARY 2025
Intelligence Update
Uptime Intelligence Research Agenda
The Uptime Intelligence research agenda includes a list all published and planned reports from January 2024 to March 2025, and is focused on Uptime Intelligence primary coverage areas: 1) power generation, distribution, energy storage; 2) data center management software (automation, AI); 3) sustainability, energy efficiency; 4) silicon and systems; 5) resiliency: outages, topology, climate risks; 6) cooling and heat rejection; 7) staffing and skills; 8) security and human risk
January 2024
Tools to improve power use by IT are underused
Tracking of IT equipment varies widely and often fall short
EU’s EED: proposed reporting revisions
Five data center predictions for 2024
How server power management works
Colocation and public cloud growth masks enterprise expansion
Resiliency versus low PUE: regulators a catalyst for innovation
What does embedded carbon of IT really represent?
AI startups innovate in cooling and IT operations
Uptime’s predictions 2022 to 2024 — relevant and actionable?
Air-assisted direct liquid cooling
February 2024
Most operators plan to spend more on rising demand
Critical role for EU data center code of conduct
The role of AI in digital infrastructure management
Managing server performance for power: a missed opportunity
EU battery regulations: what do the new rules mean?
Long shifts in data centers — time to reconsider?
UK prepares resiliency, cybersecurity legislation for colocation
March 2024
Ineffective cyber policies increase corporate risk
Data collection for IT metrics: is the industry ready?
Capacity expands rapidly, but complexity is challenging
Sustainability data exchange in colo and cloud contracts
Cloud outage insurance: assessing policy option
US mandates crypto energy reporting: will data centers be next?
Generative AI and global power consumption: high, but not that high
Confusion reigns over EED May 15 reporting deadline
EED delegated regulation is finally final
April 2024
Sustainability strategies face greater pressure in 2024
Tutorial 1: Scoping data center cybersecurity
Equipment prices rise despite supply chain improvements
Increased requirements for Scope 3 reporting and energy certificates
Underwater data centers: lessons from the deep
Next-gen refrigerants: another environmental plight?
Time to collaborate on contracts for sustainability
OT protection — is air-gapping the answer?
The threat to data center security from state-sponsored hackers
Scope 3 accounting: once is not enough
Uncertain power demand figures will lead to poor decisions
DLC momentum rises, but operators remain cautious
Maturity model for sustainability downplays site-level resiliency
May 2024
The impact of AI on data center operations (Part I)
Data center sustainability standards (updated)
Uptime Institute Cooling Systems Survey 2024: Direct liquid cooling
A deep dive into certificates for carbon-free energy
Capacity planning for liquid-cooled data centers
Operators are pushing net-zero targets beyond 2030
Why DC racks are still rarely used outside of hyperscalers
Is this air cooling's last gasp?
High-impact outages highlight ongoing resiliency challenges
iPDUs: a critical step for next generation efficiency
Complexity versus cybersecurity in the data center
June 2024
The long journey to concrete and steel decarbonization
Tutorial 2: Identifying and addressing data center cybersecurity threats
Operators boost cybersecurity efforts, but more work is needed
Effective EOPs: how cognitive science can help
EED reporting deadlines are clarified
Ignore Li-ion fire risks at your peril
Mitigating OT risk from third-party requests
DCIM past and present: what's changed?
Immersion fluids hold promise, but fire risk a concern
Targeted recruitment could widen the talent pool
July 2024
Using optimization software for cooling and capacity gains
Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2024
Tutorial 3: Effective data center governance for cybersecurity
Interest in two-phase cooling warms up
European legislation prompts greater environmental action
Six AI infrastructure conundrums
Europe taxes waste heat recovery: can data centers make it work?
Global IT disruption highlights concentration, third-party risk
Digital EOPs: the appliance of science
Water cold plates take a big lead in the small world of DLC
August 2024
Tutorial 4: Roles and responsibilities in data center cybersecurity governance
Water is a local issue: site selection and facility design
Hydrogen in data centers: an introduction
Hardware for AI: what makes it different?
Sustainability teams: key players and crucial collaborations
Shaky start for Europe’s EED legislation
Global IT outages raise the question: who bears responsibility?
Grid growth and decarbonization: an unhappy couple
Building trust: working with AI-based tools
Rack densification: is it really happening this time?
UPS component failures: what are the leading issues?
Nature laws to play key role in planning and building facilities
September 2024
Tutorial 5: Risk management in data center cybersecurity
Considerations of raised supply air temperatures
Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2024: supplier view
Data center management and control: an overview
Uptime Institute Global Data Center Survey 2024: regional view
Pulling IT power data with software
EED reporting limps out of the gate
Will legislation change how finance uses public cloud?
Bridging the skills gap: lessons from China
Erratic power profiles of AI clusters: the root causes
October 2024
Tutorial 6: Developing data center cybersecurity policies and procedures
Cooling systems: balancing cost, energy and water use
How generative AI learns and creates using GPUs
Why regulation on temperature can be counterproductive
Weak security processes can increase impact of failures
How much capacity is in aging data centers?
On-site natural gas: why some sites need it
Critical national infrastructure status: what does it mean?
Netherlands enforces efficiency mandates
Schneider acquisition signals liquid cooling to go mainstream
New quantum cloud region signals increased commercial focus
Should data centers sell their heat?
AI adoption in data centers: an insight into job displacement
November 2024
Tutorial 7: Using frameworks to structure data center cybersecurity
Operators struggle to retain staff and fill vacant positions
Cyber incidents are common and often significant
Hydrogen fuel cells: a niche option for standby power
Why didn’t data center operators notice the 2024 solar storms?
What is the outlook for GPU cloud providers?
Record investment masks a related trend: rising costs
Understanding AI deployment methods and locations
Hyperscale data center plans at unsustainable levels
Maximizing server efficiency is becoming more difficult
Extended reality offers new training capabilities
Why technology business management does more than FinOps
UN body’s data center guidelines cause concern
AI: enterprises are active, but cautious
Why bigger is not better: gen AI models are shrinking
Immersion cooling evolves in response to IT power density
December 2024
Tutorial 8: Addressing supply chain risk in data center cybersecurity
Most AI models will be trained in the cloud
How tagging provides better management of cloud costs
Data center management software: optimizing the IT
Nvidia's vision for data center may be a false prophecy
Why AWS's AI strategy is a sprint
Grid demand will require active participation from data centers
AI to trigger radical overhaul of data center electrification
Data center resource use will raise deep questions, and opposition
January 2025
Five data center predictions for 2025
Enterprise and colocation operators face rising costs in 2025
The hydrogen economy (part 3)
Are data centers on top of NIS 2 cyber compliance?
Labor shortages put some large campuses at risk of outages
Sweat dedicated GPU clusters to beat cloud on cost
AI embraces liquid cooling, but enterprise IT is slow to follow
Uptime's predictions for 2025: an overview
UNEP specs for IT equipment efficiency: more work required
How AWS’s own silicon and software deliver cloud scalability
IT efficiency: an untapped power resource
Data center management software: DCIM (part 3)
Neoclouds cheaper than hyperscalers for AI training
A primer on SMRs
CNI update: new status will bring regulations
February 2025
Resiliency v Sustainability Series: Engine generators and alternatives
Developing an effective water management strategy (part 3)
A sustainable data center in the AI era: Look behind the curtain for results
AI-ready data center designs (part one)
AI cooling: methods and capacities
Everything that burns: data centers consider all power options
Big build out stunted by delays and uncertainty
The incremental cost of bespoke AI might not add up to value
US GPU export policy will restrict AI data center building
Working with communities: the dos and don'ts of NIMBY prevention for data centers
New York legislation goes after data centers
A net zero data center is not a sustainable data center
The coming of quantum usefulness
DCM-C software: Facility Ops product guide
Data center and IT spending survey
Data center versus the people
Energy Management Systems: are you ready?
Public outages in 2024
Staff turnover: how it is affecting the industry and hot to prevent it
March 2025
AI-ready data center designs (part two)
Internet resilience: what do data center operators need to know?
(Titles, dates and descriptions are subject to change. Further details and extra reports and updates will be added to further iterations of this sheet as needed and will be available closer to the date of publication.)
About the Author
Douglas Donnellan
Douglas is a Research Associate at Uptime Institute covering sustainability in data centers. His background includes environmental research and communications, with a strong focus on education.
ddonnellan@uptimeinstitute.com