Data centres have become burdened by a mix of myth and misunderstanding. Within the mainstream media they are usually portrayed as windowless buildings that consume enormous amounts of electricity, strain local power grids and compete with communities for water during drought conditions.

Of course, those of us working in this industry know different and understand fully how data centres underpin everyday services, create skilled jobs, expand tax bases and form critical national infrastructure. That’s not to say everything is perfect and there’s certainly more to do.

While scrutiny is healthy, debate should be based on verified facts rather than assumption. To that end, in this month’s Question Time we’ve asked a specially selected panel of industry experts to identify the biggest myths about data centres that need to be debunked, and why doing so could help shape public opinion about the positive role they play.

As AI reshapes the physical layer of enterprise and data centre infrastructure, we also take an in-depth look at what’s happening in the world of connectors and connectivity. Panduit’s Hans Obermillacher examines the role of connectors and connectivity and Mike Boisseau of Siemon explains why connectors are often the overlooked link in intelligent building connectivity – and why they shouldn’t be!

The importance of testing and test equipment should never be underestimated and our special feature on this subject contains three excellent articles. First up, Steve Cowles of AEM Precision Cable Test outlines the keys to the successful testing of installed copper and optical fibre cabling. Steve’s followed by Julio Petrovitch of NetAlly, who explains best practices in PoE implementation and testing, while Nick Taylor of Networks Centre looks at MPO testing to BS EN 50174-4.

Rob Shepherd 
Editor