The Spa team travelled to London to attend the 2025 international event, Data Centre Expo, which saw global industry leaders and experts network and gain fresh insights about the data centre industry, including Women in Big Data, London Stock Exchange, Shell, and Equinix.

Discussing topics ranging from IoT, digital transformation, AI & big data, and unified communications, here’s just a glimpse of what we experienced at this event:

What did we get up to?
A must-attend event, our Account Director, Charlotte Wood, met with numerous exhibitors to explore and look deeper into the data centre ecosystem. Bringing together industry experts, decision-makers, and solutions providers, the expo showcased the latest innovations in cooling, power, security, and AI-driven automation. The event was packed with insightful keynote speeches, panel discussions, and networking opportunities – the perfect space to see the challenges and opportunities driving the industry forward.

Panel: Exploring Innovations and Emerging Trends Driving the Future of Data Centres

One of the standout sessions at this year’s event was a panel discussing the cutting-edge innovations and emerging trends reshaping the data centre landscape. Exploring AI-driven automation, sustainable practices, and the integration of edge computing to optimise data centre operations, the panelists looked at how we can make data centres more efficient, scalable, and resilient.

Who we heard from included: Mark Pestridge, Executive Vice President & General Manager at Telehouse Europe, Wilfried Dudnik, Senior Director, Strategy and Development at Digital Realty, Silky Vaidya, Technology Leader at Sirv and Board Member EMEA at Women in Big Data, and Simon Goldthorpe, Senior Director, Global xScale Operations at Equinix EMEA.

With AI transforming engineering training, taking over repetitive tasks, and enhancing operational efficiency within data centres, AI is seen as an enabler, helping the next generation of engineers to bring young innovation and drive the industry forward. However, the challenge is that as a sector, we need to be better at publicizing and talking about data centres, encouraging people at local and regional levels to seek jobs within the sector. There is a need to collaborate more with universities and colleges with their apprenticeship schemes to showcase the industry and find career opportunities not just in engineering, but also the general management of data centres.

Another challenge is how do we design, build, and construct data centres to cater for traditional strategies and high-density workloads for the long term? As data centres are becoming more AI-ready and energy efficient, sustainability and investment is vital to ensuring long-term success. The demand to hit clean energy targets is growing, and providers and all elements of data centre operations must work more efficiently, innovations such as liquid cooling can only take the industry so far, especially as there is a significant increase in investment funds and capital flowing into the industry, as well as key partnerships that are fueling growth.

Balancing sustainability and increasing power demands in high-density workloads has led to data centre operators rethinking design, construction, and scalability in operations. We are getting to be more AI-ready and more efficient, and innovation is needed for reduction in power for data centres.

Overall, in this panel, there was a key takeaway: there’s a conversation that is to be had with thought leaders for the future direction of data centres, in its regulatory requirements and sustainability initiatives. But the biggest challenge in the industry is shifting towards the demand for scalability, power availability and sustainability requirements.

As part of its work, Spa was tasked with supporting in the promotion of this industry event within influential individuals and press.

“Data Centres Expo Global has established itself as the foundation for expert insights from the data centre industry, and we are excited to collaborate with them to enhance its reach among key industry leaders,” said Charlotte Wood, Account Director at Spa Communications. “This event continues to give great value to its audience, sponsors, and participants, looking to shape the future of the industry. We look forward to collaborating with them next year!”

As the industry continues to evolve, Spa Communications remains committed to helping businesses share their stories and position themselves as a leader in the data centre conversation.

Go to Data Centre Expo’s website to learn more about the event, and register for 2026: https://datacentrecongress.com/global/