In February, IXcellerate traditionally took part in the international industry event – TB Forum, dedicated to the development of data center infrastructure, engineering technologies, and the security of critical digital infrastructure. Our company was represented by Artem Kataraev, Deputy Technical Director of IXcellerate.
During the stage interview “Global Trends 2030 and Russian Realities of the Data Center Market,” experts discussed the factors shaping the industry in the coming years: the impact of artificial intelligence on data center architecture, transformations in energy models, and modern approaches to data protection.
According to Artem Kataraev, large-scale digital transformation across industries remains one of the primary drivers of growth. More and more companies are placing critical systems in commercial data centers that ensure high service availability and data security.
At the same time, the nature of computing workloads is evolving. The rapid development of AI is driving a significant increase in compute density. Traditional workloads typically relied on relatively balanced distribution across racks, whereas modern AI systems concentrate compute power within a single rack or even a single GPU configuration, where power consumption can reach 40–60 kW per rack. This shift introduces new requirements for power distribution, cooling systems, and overall facility engineering architecture.
Special attention at the forum was given to infrastructure management. Artem Kataraev moderated the thematic session “Data Center Engineering Infrastructure”.
The discussion focused on the transition to integrated data center infrastructure management systems. A modern data center combines numerous subsystems: server and storage monitoring, structured cabling systems (SCS), security systems, engineering system dispatching, access control, and fire protection.
One of the key trends today is the creation of a unified managed environment where IT infrastructure, engineering systems, and security operate as a connected ecosystem. This approach makes facility operation more transparent, expands analytics capabilities, helps implement predictive maintenance, and enables faster incident response.
The forum also addressed modern approaches to protecting infrastructure from external threats, including monitoring and counter-UAV technologies.
As a result of the discussions, participants agreed that the data center industry is entering a period of consolidation and technological modernization. At the same time, one of the major challenges remains the shortage of qualified personnel.
Artem Kataraev noted that the market faces a lack of specialists and an absence of systematic workforce training for the DataCenter industry in universities. As the industry grows, developing professional competencies becomes one of the key issues for the further advancement of digital economy infrastructure.
