UK And Scandinavia Make Gains In Data Centre Rankings

The UK has risen to second place in a table of the best locations to build a data centre in the world, while Nordic countries have also rissn in the rankings.

The Data Centre Risk Index 2012 showed that companies are looking towards the Nordic countries and nations with a cool climate that have good networks and abundant renewable energy supplies.

Runner-up

The Index, which helps companies identify where to build their data centres, ranked 30 countries according to a set of criteria, including energy costs, connectivity, likelihood of natural disasters, political stability, energy security and energy.

The US retained its status as the best place – the  lowest risk location – with a score of 100, but the UK moved up from fifth to second, owing to its high international bandwidth capacity and ease of doing businesses.

However the rankings found that sustainability is becoming increasingly important for data centre operators, and that makes Scandanvia an attractive prospect. The cool climate means free cooling, while hydroelectric power and other alternative renewable energy sources can be used.

Google has moved to establish a data centre in Finland, while in October, Facebook announced plans to locate its first ever data centre outside in the US in Lulea, northern Sweden. Key factors in the decision were the high speed broadband and some of the lowest energy prices in Europe. Iceland was fourth in the rankings, Sweden eighth and Norway twelfth.

“What we are seeing, certainly in the data storage market, is the rise of the Nordics, which may in the future dilute the market share from the traditional centres in Europe,” commented Keith Inglis, partner in the EMEA Data Centre Advisory Group at Cushman & Wakefield. “Google has built a facility in Hamina, Finland and Facebook is constructing a substantial new data center in Lulea, Sweden. The cool climate is ideal for free cooling technologies and the abundance of renewable power and water make this region an increasingly attractive option. Iceland, ranked fourth is a new entrant to our Index and is the highest ranked of the Nordic counties.”

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