UK Will Be ‘Largest Single Data Centre Market In Europe’ By 2020

The UK will be the biggest market in Europe for data centres by 2020, according to a new report.

The report, from Tariff Consultancy Ltd (TCL), also predicts that data centre space and power in Europe will increase by almost 20 percent from 2015 to 2020.

Data Centre facilities in the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands already account for half of all space in Europe – with six to seven providers accounting for half of power and space in France, Germany and the UK.

Limit

But the TCL report also said that there are signs that data centre pricing has reached its limit, with average rack space and square metre pricing set to decline by 10 percent over the five year period to the end of 2020.

TCL also identified four key trends in the data centre space that will develop over the next five years.

The report predicts that ‘premium’ data centre facilities, which are defined as providing 20 kW bundles of power as standard, are changing to become more “flexible” Data Centre facilities which can provide different data halls with dedicated space, power resilience, SLA, shared use or price points.

Telecoms providers are also reportedly developing new data centre space for cloud and hosting services, with several telecoms operators – such as Colt – now claiming that their facilities are carrier neutral in order to appeal to a wider range of users, which are separate from network users.

Customer power per square metre of data centre appears to have peaked. Data centre providers such as Interxion and TelecityGroup report that power per square metre has peaked at an average of 1 kW to 1.1 kW, with further power increasing only in line with new data centre build-outs, said TCL.

Finally, new data centre space is being expanded in the Nordic countries, said the report. New providers are being established in Norway and Sweden, such as Hydro66 and Green Mountain, which are capitalising on low cost power and green facilities to attract new inward user investment.

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