48 OPINION
48 OPINION
Non-US markets look set to eat into this dominant market share . Europe ’ s colocation market grew by over a quarter in the last year , while the Asia-Pacific data centre market is predicted to sustain similar growth over the next five years . And it ’ s not just colocation that ’ s set to grow . As enterprises move away from traditional vendors and instead choosing cloud providers such as Amazon , Google and Microsoft , these major players have all launched significant new data centre investments outside the US in recent months , with Google announcing a new London facility this summer . The company also recently announced its first foray into the Indian market with the announcement of a planned data centre in Mumbai .
What is driving this move into new markets ? One should beware a single , all-encompassing answer to such a complex question , but when it comes to technology infrastructure it ’ s obvious that businesses often need to be as close , geographically , to their critical business data as possible . In the early days of the cloud , it mattered little if an organisation ’ s data and applications were hosted on the other side of the world . In recent years , however , there has been a strong trend for businesses to look closer to home when selecting a data centre or cloud provider .
In part , this desire is being driven by growing questions surrounding data transfer between jurisdictions , as highlighted in the saga of Facebook ’ s transfer of data from its Ireland facility to the US – the subject of a long-running argument between the Irish High Court and the social networking giant . But there ’ s a much more compelling reason for the rise of new data centre markets , which is the growing demand for ultra-low latency connectivity – a trend which is driving the growth in edge computing .
Close to the edge Today , many organisations measure success by time . Seconds can make a huge difference to the performance of an organisation . This is especially true in the financial services industry , where a delay of just a fraction of a second can wipe millions off the value of high-frequency trades .
Even for businesses in other sectors , proximity to data is a key concern . Even tiny time delays in accessing information can have significant knock-on effects on business operations , especially those that rely on high volumes of real-time information such as Internet of Things ( IoT ) applications . What ’ s more , new financial regulations , for example , IFRS 9 which is due to come into force early next year , include strict provisions for auditing and data transfer which mean that every organisation needs a much clearer understanding of their worldwide information assets .
Clearly , connectivity and data transfer must be fast , stable and consistent at all times , in order to maintain operational runtime and reduce accidents or disruptions – while also simplifying the global web of data centre facilities that so many businesses have built up over the past few years . Issues such as these are the key drivers of the move towards edge computing .
When applications and data are moved from centralised hubs to the edges of a network , the distance between users and that data inevitably narrows , while speed , reliability and efficiency increases . This solves many of the regulatory and technical challenges encountered by organisations . Clearly , growing markets in India , Europe , South East Asia and elsewhere require data centres that are geographically close to the businesses that rely on them . The alternative , which is to continue sending their data processing , storage and other tasks to a facility on the other side of the world , is becoming a much less attractive option .
No one should be predicting the end of North America ’ s traditional strength in data centres , but the growing imperative for edge computing means that Europe , Asia and other markets are increasingly challenging its dominance . This is good news for organisations wanting to access low latency services and avoid the complex and fast-changing web of regulations governing data transfer between different jurisdictions . It ’ s also a positive move for the wider technology industry since we can expect greater competition to bring lower prices and , more innovation from data centres and cloud service providers .
But the trend towards edge computing also raises questions about how data centres will need to adapt . The move to high-intensity computing ‘ at source ’ for example , in driverless cars and other IoT applications , is likely to change the way that we think about data centres . With so much data collection , storage and processing taking place at the edge , its role in the way facilities are managed and operated will inevitably see some change .
Perhaps this is looking too far ahead ? The majority IT continues to be focused on day-to-day applications that reside in a data centre – ideally , one that is geographically close to the organisations that it serves . So for the foreseeable future , we can expect exciting new developments in an increasingly diversified and international data centre market . n
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