INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres
Viderium Ltd: How the
data centre industry will
boom across Europe
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devices and cloud services – and consequent
need for data storage and processing – will
only increase as the world gets smarter and
more connected’. CBRE’s research suggests
the amount of data that Internet of Things
(IoT) devices generate each day is doubling
every 40 weeks, which is having a profound
effect on data centre activity in Europe.
E
tix Everywhere, a Luxembourg-based
modular data centre specialist, has
announced plans to open a €120
million (~£110m) data centre campus
outside Frankfurt. As investment in Frankfurt
continues to increase, the city is on track
to strip London of its crown and become
Europe’s data centre capital.
According to the Europe Data Centre Trends
Tracker 2018, Frankfurt is set to overtake
Greater London to become the biggest data
centre cluster by early 2019. The report
states that during 2018, the total Frankfurt
area data centre space is forecast to grow by
over 34,0000 m2 of raised floor space – or
approximately 60 MW of DCCP (Data Centre
Customer Power).
Citing favourable IT infrastructure and
ample land to build on, the German city
is set for ‘significant growth’ in the next
year. This growth is powered by 11 data
centre expansions by providers such as
www.intelligentcio.com
This means that cities beside London
and Frankfurt are going to benefit from
the data centre boom. Paris, Dublin and
Amsterdam are already hotspots and
clusters are emerging in countries like Latvia,
Lithuania and Denmark. For example,
London-based data centre management
company, Viderium, has recently secured
multi-million pound agreements with data
centres in Rotterdam and Latvia to expand
its Blockchain and High Power Computing
(HPC) installations.
Colt Telecom, Digital Realty, Equinix,
Interxion and Maincube. This year’s notable
investments include data centre services
provider, Zenium, which plans to open a
296,000 square foot facility in the city.
Frankfurt is alluring for data centre
providers for several reasons. Firstly, it’s an
attractive international connectivity hub.
As of September 2017, the main German
Internet Exchange (DE-CIX) reports daily IP
traffic of over 5.9 TB. Located in the heart
of both Germany and continental Europe,
it acts as a convenient hub for connectivity
in the CEE region. In contrast with London,
Frankfurt offers more space for data centres
to build and expand. Furthermore, unlike its
British counterpart, the city isn’t engulfed in
political uncertainty.
More generally, Europe’s data centre
industry is on track to keep growing.
According to research by real estate
specialist CBRE: ‘Society’s reliance on digital
Viderium is looking towards Europe for
several reasons. “Europe offers favourable
energy costs, as well as the long-term
stability provided by a connected European
market,” said Ross Archer, Viderium’s
CEO. “This grants our business-enhanced
profitability in the short-term paired with a
more predictable longer term outlook.”
Marc Fröse, Etix Everywhere’s Country
Manager for Germany, told Data Economy:
“This data centre will offer unique expansion
capabilities at only a few hundred metres
from the main IT hub of Frankfurt.”
“Our clients will benefit from an ideal location
with excellent connectivity,” Fröse said.
So, while stylish technologies like cloud
computing and Artificial Intelligence seize
the spotlight, it’s worth remembering the
data centres that are working diligently to
power the future. n
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