Telehouse research highlights UK knowledge gap about what datacentres do

Despite the government repeatedly hyping up the importance of the datacentre market to the UK economy, research shows the general public remains largely unaware of the important role server farms play in their everyday lives.

A poll of 2,000 UK consumers by colocation company Telehouse, geared towards uncovering how much awareness there is of datacentres in the general population, revealed that more than half of respondents (51%) had never heard of the term.

When questioned further, 67% of respondents said they did not know what a datacentre was, nor what it did, which Telehouse said “highlights a significant lack of awareness about their critical role in powering daily digital life”.

“While 48% of respondents believe datacentres 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 datacentre operations,” the company said.

To reiterate this further, the company said its research also showed that nearly half of respondents (43%) had no idea about the number of people, applications and data supported by datacentres in the UK.

The lack of public appreciation for datacentres may be traced back to the fact that operators have previously gone to great lengths to keep the location of their sites under wraps for security purposes – with this veil of secrecy affording clients’ data an extra level of protection.

The fact the sector operates largely under the radar has been cited as a reason why operators have struggled to fill roles and replace workers who have reached retirement age. It has also previously been flagged as a factor in why the industry has sometimes struggled to get its needs and wants catered for during government policy and regulatory changes.

The latter situation has progressively improved over the course of the past five years or so, with datacentre employees acknowledged as key workers by the government during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Since coming to power in July 2024, the Labour government has also taken steps to elevate the status of the datacentre market further by committing to lowering the planning barriers to new developments, and reclassifying datacentres as Critical National Infrastructure.

Even so, Telehouse said its research shows there is a need for the public to be better educated about the critical role that datacentres play in keeping the country’s increasingly digital economy ticking over.

In response, the company has launched an education drive to help the general public build their knowledge of what the sector does, and learn more about datacentres and their significance to everyday life.

The company has also committed to offering apprenticeships and work experience opportunities to young people in the datacentre market, and said it intends to advocate for more educational programmes focused on datacentre technologies in schools and universities.

Mark Pestridge, executive vice-president and general manager at Telehouse Europe, said: “We realise there’s a significant knowledge gap regarding datacentres and their impact on digital lives … [and] we hope to educate people about the critical work done in datacentres 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,” he said