Meeting the Growing Demand for Colocation

We often hear modular data centre construction being referred to as a time saving solution but the question remains, how and where are these time efficiencies achieved? And more importantly, how much time is actually saved? For data centre operators time is money and when it comes to data centre design and build, a significant financial investment is required for the infrastructure alone, never mind adding in the labour costs. Ultimately, the speed of power deployment achieved through modular construction, reduces the capital expenditure required, enabling data centres to increase power capacity in a time and cost efficient manner.

We often hear modular data centre construction being referred to as a time saving solution but the question remains, how and where are these time efficiencies achieved? And more importantly, how much time is actually saved? For data centre operators time is money and when it comes to data centre design and build, a significant financial investment is required for the infrastructure alone, never mind adding in the labour costs. Ultimately, the speed of power deployment achieved through modular construction, reduces the capital expenditure required, enabling data centres to increase power capacity in a time and cost efficient manner.

The march to increased digitisation, adoption of cloud and hybrid IT strategies, shifts in global business models, data sovereignty and security are fuelling growth in the data centre sector globally. Colocation demand in Europe had a record year in 2020 with a substantial 22% increase in take-up from 2019. London and Frankfurt drove much of the demand, with London recording a 72 per cent increase yoy. This insatiable demand is projected to continue growing. How are major data centre markets in Europe coping with this demand? Will hyperscalers lead the way in constructing data centres and will this be disruptive to the colocation markets that have benefited from hyperscalers’ transactions? The presentation will offer insight into the importance of the relationship between hyperscalers and the wider colocation market in catering for the ever-growing demand.

In short? Far from it. Although the Cloud is growing at a rapid pace, colocation data centres are set to continue to drive innovation in the data centre market. Ben Stirk will discuss the current trends that Knight Frank are observing in the data centre market, and how these trends are facilitating the evolution of colocation data centres as we know them.

While some doomsayers are heralding the end of colocation data centres, the sector is quietly adapting its operations, and undergoing a transformation in the way services are delivered. This session, hosted by Mark Acton, will examine the growth patterns in colocation services, as well as the enabling technologies and growth demands driving this change.