Half of UK residents have 'never heard of' data centres

Even as the UK government pushes ahead with plans to build new data centres across the country, a new study suggests the policies may not do much to capture the public’s imagination. Around half of British residents say they have never even heard the term ‘data centre’, while two-fifths have no idea what their supposed benefits would be.

For the past two years, AI hype has come with a caveat: to unlock the potential of the technology, more capacity will have to be opened up to power AI solutions. The UK’s Labour Party, which was voted into government in the summer, bought into this wholesale, and has recently re-confirmed its commitment to give new data centres priority – pushing back regulatory measures to enable data centre projects to build on green belt land via a fast-tracked scheme that would prevent local councils from blocking new sites.

However, a new survey of 2,000 UK respondents suggests that the move may be lost on many voters – with 67% admitting they did not really understand what a data centre is, or does. That included 51% of respondents who told researchers at Telehouse they had never even heard of the concept, highlighting a significant gap in the government, and the industry’s messaging – if they are to ride roughshod over environmental and planning concerns to forge ahead with huge new infrastructure projects.

At present, 48% of respondents told Telehouse they believed data centres positively impact the digital services they use at home and work, such as video streaming and online shopping, there remains a substantial knowledge gap about the scale and scope of data centre operations. However, since 67% said they did not understand what a data centre was, there could possibly have been 15% of respondents who both had no idea what they were being asked, and still endorsed it as a good thing.

Telehouse's findings also highlight a mixed perception of data centres' importance in the context of remote working, a trend that has surged in recent years. While 59% see data centres as critical to enabling remote work, 19% are unsure how these facilities support such activities, and 15% consider them not very critical, or not critical at all.

Telehouse is a global data centre service provider, bringing together more than 3,000 business partners including carriers, mobile and content providers, enterprises, and financial services companies. As such, the idea most consumers have no emotional investment in their product might come as something of a concern – so the company has launched a new website, featuring the cartoon character ‘DC’, to try and win hearts and minds.

The blue, bespectacled figure – with a tone reminiscent of a Troy McLure infomercial screened in Springfield Elementary – seeks to be “your friendly guide here to show you the vital role data centres play in keeping our digital world connected”. In a short animated video, DC details how data is funnelled through “cables underground” to “the bustling airport of digital information”, with a great deal of emphasis on the fact this underwrites smooth “streaming a video or playing an online game”.

Mark Pestridge, executive vice president at Telehouse Europe, commented, “We realise there’s a significant knowledge gap regarding data centres and their impact on digital lives. By introducing ‘DC,’ we hope to educate people about the critical work done in data centres and inspire our future generations to consider careers in this field. We also hope that bridging this knowledge divide may be key to increasing trust in the digital infrastructure that underpins our connected lives.”

The move comes at a key time, when data centres are about to come more and more into the public eye. As the new government pushes for local authorities to allow more of them to be built, there will also be heightened scrutiny of their ecological and environmental impacts – which DC had conspicuously little to say about – as the country allegedly looks to shift to a zero-emissions economy.