DCN June 2017 | Page 6

industry news DATA CENTRE COLOCATION SEES 27 PER CENT YEAR–ON- YEAR GROWTH The core European colocation hubs of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris had a strong start to the year, with 26.6MW of take-up and 38MW of new supply in Q1 2017 according to global real estate advisor CBRE. London was responsible for 17.5MW of take-up, 60 per cent of the European total. The market saw significant further activity by the hyperscale cloud players, which resulted in London’s second largest quarterly total on record. In contrast Amsterdam (3.5MW), Frankfurt (3.2MW) and Paris (2.3MW) were relatively quiet in the first quarter. Continued activity from cloud service providers has again been the bed rock of a strong first quarter. However, an expected increase in activity from corporate and enterprise occupiers as the year goes on will provide more balance to take-up. Andrew Jay, executive director, Data Centre Solutions, at CBRE, commented, ‘We predicted a strong 2017 in the European markets and Q1 has certainly delivered for us. Given the momentum built up in 2016 we weren’t surprised to see a strong start to the year. The key question is whether 2017 will surpass last year’s record breaking 155MW. Our view is that we will have another really strong year of at least 100MW which is astonishing considering that the record take-up prior to 2016 was 78MW. ‘Q1 came very close to reaching a milestone of 1,000MW of supply across the four markets; ending the quarter on 996MW. We expect a substantial amount of further new supply to come on during the course of the year, including new entrants in Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London.’ 6 | June 2017 Spectra Logic Publishes Annual State of Data Storage Spectra Logic has announced the publication of ‘Digital Data Storage Outlook 2017’, Spectra’s annual review of the data storage industry. The report provides insight for storage and media manufacturers, application developers and enterprise storage customers into the trends, pricing and technology shaping the data storage industry, and projects future storage needs and the technologies with the best chance of satisfying them. Storage industry experts have predicted that the digital universe could grow to more than 40 zettabytes (ZB) of data in 2020. Spectra’s ‘Digital Data Storage Outlook 2017’ projects that much of this data will never be stored or will be retained for only a brief time, bringing the total amount of data stored closer to 20ZB in 2026. The report explores how enterprise flash will displace 2.5-inch 15,000RPM magnetic disks, and why existing technologies like tape will have the most significant impact on the storage digital universe through 2026, among other conclusions. ‘The world’s repository of data is growing more rapidly than we could have imagined. At the same time, organisations are more reliant than ever on digital assets, and must protect and preserve access to this data forever,’ said Spectra Logic CEO Nathan Thompson. “This is a unique time for the data storage industry, and we are proud to take a leadership role in helping the industry anticipate the trends, tiers and technologies of the future.’ The full review can be viewed here. New entrant boosts Scottish data centre market Scotland’s largest ever data centre is being launched, capable of handling the country’s vast data storage and processing needs as it moves into an increasingly digital future. The Pyramids Data Centre in Bathgate, West Lothian, will provide the capacity to support the public and private sectors as they continue their transition to agile and cost effective working practices – including utilising cloud infrastructure. Strategically located on the M8 Motorway just outside Edinburgh, the 93-acre Pyramids Data Centre is easily accessible from both the capital and Glasgow. The facility will be developed in three phases and will provide 250,000ft2 of flexible, modular and scalable technical space, with the potential for up to 500,000ft2. The size of the facility ensures it will be capable of handling the data storage and processing requirements of the largest of organisations and is likely to prove vital for the continued growth of Scotland’s technology sector. Steven McGarva, director at Ashfield Land, said, ‘Having owned the Pyramids for the past year or so and examined a number of options for its future it is clear that we need to invest and be at the heart of Scotland’s digital economy. With such investment the Pyramids presents a unique opportunity, given its scale, power supply and data infrastructure, to create a campus style data centre and digital hub.’