Human error remains an unavoidable consideration in the operation of data centres, where even a seemingly minor mistake can have significant consequences. Uptime Institute’s Annual Outage Analysis 2026 report identifies a failure to follow established procedures as the leading reason for human error related outages, raising important questions about how operators can better manage risk.

For this month’s Question Time, Inside_Networks has brought together a panel of industry experts to explore whether human error can ever truly be eliminated. They examine the practical steps operators can take to strengthen procedures, improve working practices and prevent avoidable mistakes from developing into costly downtime.

Meanwhile, as data centres evolve, so too must the technologies and approaches used to support growing demands. In this issue, we turn our attention to pre-terminated cabling and Jason James of HellermannTyton looks at how pre-terminated systems became an essential part of modern cabling infrastructure, while Christophe Hinet of Molex Connected Enterprise Solutions considers the benefits of combining pre-terminated and field-terminated solutions. Michael Akinla of Panduit completes the line-up by examining the key considerations when specifying and installing both optical fibre and copper systems.

Power infrastructure is another area undergoing significant change, particularly as AI drives demand for greater capacity and resilience. Our special feature on UPS and power management brings together three industry perspectives on the challenges and opportunities ahead. Ben Pritchard of AVK explores why modular solutions are becoming increasingly important to the future of AI power and Pierre Ecuyer of Legrand then examines how AI is redefining expectations around UPS resilience. Last but certainly not least, Colin Dean of Socomec goes on to consider how operators can balance resilience with energy efficiency.

Rob Shepherd 
Editor