Data center innovation is continuing to be shaped by macro forces and technology trends related to AI, according to a report from Vertiv (NYSE: VRT), a global leader in critical digital infrastructure. The Vertiv Frontiers report, which draws on expertise from across the organization, details the technology trends driving current and future innovation, from powering up for AI, to digital twins, to adaptive liquid cooling.

“The data center industry is continuing to rapidly evolve how it designs, builds, operates and services data centers, in response to the density and speed of deployment demands of AI factories,” said Vertiv chief product and technology officer, Scott Armul. “We see cross-technology forces, including extreme densification, driving transformative trends such as higher voltage DC power architectures and advanced liquid cooling that are important to deliver the gigawatt scaling that is critical for AI innovation. On-site energy generation and digital twin technology are also expected to help to advance the scale and speed of AI adoption.”

The Vertiv Frontiers report builds on and expands Vertiv’s previous annual Data Center Trends predictions. The report identifies macro forces driving data center innovation: extreme densification—accelerated by AI and HPC workloads; gigawatt scaling at speed—data centers are now being deployed rapidly and at unprecedented scale; data center as a unit of compute—the AI era requires facilities to be built and operated as a single system; and silicon diversification—data center infrastructure must adapt to an increasing range of chips and compute.

The report details how these macro forces have in turn shaped five key trends impacting specific areas of the data center landscape.

1.         Powering up for AI

Most current data centers still rely on hybrid AC/DC power distribution from the grid to the IT racks, which includes three to four conversion stages and some inefficiencies. This existing approach is under strain as power densities increase, largely driven by AI workloads. The shift to higher voltage DC architectures enables significant reductions in current, size of conductors, and number of conversion stages while centralizing power conversion at the room level. Hybrid AC and DC systems are pervasive, but as full DC standards and equipment mature, higher voltage DC is likely to become more prevalent as rack densities increase. On-site generation, and microgrids, will also drive adoption of higher voltage DC.

2.         Distributed AI

The billions of dollars invested into AI data centers to support large language models (LLMs) to date have been aimed at supporting widespread adoption of AI tools by consumers and businesses. Vertiv believes AI is becoming increasingly critical to businesses but how, and from where, those inference services are delivered will depend on the specific requirements and conditions of the organization. While this will impact businesses of all types, highly regulated industries, such as finance, defense, and healthcare, may need to maintain private or hybrid AI environments via on-premise data centers, due to data residency, security, or latency requirements. Flexible, scalable high-density power and liquid cooling systems could enable capacity through new builds or retrofitting of existing facilities.

3.         Energy autonomy accelerates

Short-term on-site energy generation capacity has been essential for most standalone data centers for decades, to support resiliency. However, widespread power availability challenges are creating conditions to adopt extended energy autonomy, especially for AI data centers. Investment in on-site power generation, via natural gas turbines and other technologies, does have several intrinsic benefits but is primarily driven by power availability challenges. Technology strategies such as Bring Your Own Power (and Cooling) are likely to be part of ongoing energy autonomy plans.

4.         Digital twin-driven design and operations

With increasingly dense AI workloads and more powerful GPUs also come a demand to deploy these complex AI factories with speed. Using AI-based tools, data centers can be mapped and specified virtually, via digital twins, and the IT and critical digital infrastructure can be integrated, often as prefabricated modular designs, and deployed as units of compute, reducing time-to-token by up to 50%. This approach will be important to efficiently achieving the gigawatt-scale buildouts required for future AI advancements.

5.         Adaptive, resilient liquid cooling

AI workloads and infrastructure have accelerated the adoption of liquid cooling. But conversely, AI can also be used to further refine and optimize liquid cooling solutions. Liquid cooling has become mission-critical for a growing number of operators but AI could provide ways to further enhance its capabilities. AI, in conjunction with additional monitoring and control systems, has the potential to make liquid cooling systems smarter and even more robust by predicting potential failures and effectively managing fluid and components. This trend should lead to increasing reliability and uptime for high value hardware and associated data/workloads.

Vertiv does business in more than 130 countries, delivering critical digital infrastructure solutions to data centers, communication networks, and commercial and industrial facilities worldwide. The company’s comprehensive portfolio spans power management, thermal management, and IT infrastructure solutions and services—from the cloud to the network edge. This integrated approach enables continuous operations, optimal performance, and scalable growth for customers navigating an increasingly complex digital landscape.

Zoho Corporation announced the launch of its data centres in UAE in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The data centres form a part of AED 100 million investment in the UAE that the company had announced in 2023. The data centre will host solutions from Zoho Corporation’s two key brands: ManageEngine (enterprise IT management) and Zoho (cloud business solutions).

“The opening of our data centres is part of our ongoing investment in the UAE, which remains one of the largest markets in the region for both ManageEngine and Zoho brands,” said Shailesh Davey, Co-founder and CEO, Zoho Corporation. “With this move, Zoho Corporation will be enabling businesses store their data locally, strengthening data sovereignty, and supporting National Cybersecurity Agenda. Furthermore, 100+ solutions across Zoho and ManageEngine, will enable businesses of all sizes, and government and semi-government organisations adopt cloud technology for digital transformation in nearly every area of operation, and help Dubai become a digital economy line with Dubai Vision 2030.”

The data centres have also received certification from CSP Security Standard Certificate by DESC (Dubai Electronic Security Center). This qualifies Zoho Corporation to serve government and semi-government entities in addition to local businesses. As part of this, the data centres are also compliant with: ISO 27001, ISO 22301,  ISO 27017 and CSA STAR Level 2 Certificate for data centres. In addition, the company’s Dubai office has received ISO 27001 certificate.

Growth Momentum of Zoho

Zoho has grown by 38.7% in 2025 in UAE, and expanded its partner network by 29% in the same period. It has further increased its employee count by 35% last year to serve the needs of its increasing customer base, and expanded into a larger office. The key solutions driving Zoho’s growth are: Customer Experience platform (Zoho CRM, Desk and Zoho CRM Plus), Zoho Books (VAT-compliant and FTA-approved accounting software), Creator (low-code app development platform), Zoho Workplace (communication and collaboration platform), and Zoho One (all-in-one suite of 55+ products).

In the past five years, Zoho has invested AED 80 million on enabling over 7000 businesses in their digital transformation journey through various partnerships such as those with DET and Dubai Culture. In the past few years, Zoho has seen a steady upmarket growth in the country, 48% in 2025, led by its strong platform capabilities that allow enterprises achieve faster time to value and lowers their total cost of ownership. 

Growth Momentum of ManageEngine

ManageEngine has grown by 20% in 2025 in the UAE, led by its continued focus on the enterprise sector. The brand has strengthened its local presence, including through the partner network, to support the increasing adoption of its solutions across both private and government organizations. The key solutions driving the growth are: Endpoint Central (unified endpoint management), ServiceDesk Plus (unified service management) and Site24x7 (cloud-based observability platform).

In the recent years, growth in the UAE for ManageEngine has been particularly strong in BFSI, government and public sector, and manufacturing, fuelled by cloud adoption, which is growing at nearly 35% in the region for the brand’s cloud solutions. This trend reflects a broader shift toward cloud-first strategies, as organizations prioritise scalability, agility, and faster innovation.

Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI) will showcase how its latest advancements in AI are helping critical enterprises and security providers maintain safety and awareness across vast operations, moving from reactive incident detection to proactive response, at Intersec, taking place from January 12 to 14.

Avigilon Visual Alerts uses intuitive conversational interfaces to significantly expand the catalogue of visual events that can be detected across large volumes of camera feeds. Security teams can easily create custom alerts unique to their site, such as “unauthorized vehicle near shut-off valve” or “blocked fire exit.” Visual Alerts scans the camera network for these scenarios to notify operational and security staff to triage and quickly respond. By bringing these generative AI capabilities directly on-premise without requiring cloud connectivity, the company is transforming video security from an intrusion and security focused tool into a site-specific operational engine, enabling critical industries to identify a vast array of safety, compliance, and logistical risks that extend far beyond traditional security threats.

“The power of our AI-enabled video and access control solutions isn’t just its ability to process data, but its capacity to give security teams more of their most precious resource – time,” said Jehan Wickramasuriya, senior vice president, Security & Resilience Software, Motorola Solutions. “We are unlocking the full potential of video by dramatically increasing the breadth of what we can detect. Whether upholding compliance in a refinery or keeping patients safe in a hospital, we’re enabling our customers to tailor their detection systems to the specific, nuanced reality of their daily operations.”

Visual Alerts supports sectors that are vital to the Middle East’s economy, including oil and gas, fueled by soaring output and extensive reserves, and healthcare, spurred by major government investments. The solution provides real-time, AI-powered detections to enhance safety, security and compliance, from alerting workers to hazards, to quickly identifying patient falls and constantly monitoring restricted zones.

“As a 300-bed hospital that occupies almost 30,000 square meters of land, we have large numbers of people and expansive physical resources to protect,” said Abdulrub Alsadeek, IT Director, Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Center (HMG) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. “During an incident, our AI-powered Avigilon security platform becomes a powerful tool to help our security teams reconcile data, understand different events across our vast operations and take immediate action based on relevant, verified information.”

Other highlights from Motorola Solutions at Intersec Dubai complement Visual Alerts, including long-range cameras that provide highly accurate detection capabilities in extreme environments and operational resilience software that helps enterprises anticipate, prepare for and more efficiently respond to events.

“For the critical industries we serve, our AI technologies are proven to enhance security, safety, and operational efficiency without adding complexity for staff,” said Pedro Simoes, corporate vice president, Video Security & Access Control, Motorola Solutions. “By surfacing essential data facilitated by privacy-aware AI analysis on-premises, we help users focus on critical events and make informed decisions to protect people, property and places.”

Attendees can experience Motorola Solutions’ safety and security ecosystem, including AI-powered on-premise and cloud-connected video and access control offerings at Sheikh Saeed Hall – stand SA-C11 at Intersec Dubai.