datacenterHawk

Want to see how datacenterHawk can help you make better decisions? Get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/overview?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– 0:00 - Intro & PTC Recap 3:24 - Hyperscale Demand in North America 10:27 - Growth in Secondary European Markets 15:20 - Planned Power Growth in Sydney ––––– We produced our 4Q 2021 podcast, going over the data center trends in North American, European, & APAC markets, on LinkedIn Live. This is the recorded version of the podcast. Comment below if you have any additional questions you would like us to address.

Want to see how datacenterHawk can help you make decisions around data centers? Get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/overview?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo NVIDIA's Director of Solutions Architecture, Director of Engineering, share their insight on the growth of AI and its impact on edge computing. In this interview with NVIDIA, Rama Darbha, Director of Solutions Architecture, and Roopa Prabhu, Director of Engineering, share their insights on the industries driving edge computing, the impact of AI on the data center industry, and future AI innovations affect on the footprint of the data center industry. Edge computing, AI, & data centers Edge computing and storing capabilities are utilized by several industries in different capacities and artificial intelligence (AI) is a major driver of this need. Manufacturers use edge computing to deploy real-time decision making AI in autonomous cars. Retail providers use edge computing in robotics with many applications from warehouse management to theft prevention. Providers utilize edge storing capabilities to host geographically decentralized regions, to name a few examples of edge users. Highlights from NVIDIA's GTC conference Rama and Roopa discuss the many AI innovations emerging that were addressed during NVIDIA's annual GTC conference. AI and other similar data heavy technologies are increasing demand in the data center industry calling for the infrastructure to respond quickly to this evolution. With technological improvements, data centers are poised to accommodate more data and take on new opportunities in edge computing and AI. NVIDIA aims to partner with companies to provide various solutions through AI enabled systems.

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/overview?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– As CEO, Mike Sicoli led INAP through financial restructuring in the middle of the Covid pandemic, all while continuing to focus on the importance of offering a wide array of services in this increasingly hybrid world. Being able to offer a suite of different connectivity and hosting options is important in today's market and Mike believes we're still on the front end of businesses transitioning to hybrid. So many companies still have most of their operations on premises, from an enterprise standpoint. For them, the potential of public and private Cloud is just starting to open. For various reasons, particularly cost and the speed that a private Cloud edge networking setup can offer, a large chunk of data and operations will never see the public Cloud. Hybrid is here to stay. So, the trick is helping clients navigate this complex set of options, and making it work well without jumping through too many hoops. Clients can feel more secure about their future when they deal with a company that has a lot of diversified services and assets. No matter where their journey takes them, a company like INAP will be able to help them out. No Cloud hosting decision is binary, or fixed, or irrecoverable. Flexibility in infrastructure design is more critical than ever. Mike believes that the hardest job in the corporate world falls on the shoulders of the CIO, or the person in charge of the IT infrastructure. Some of the decisions they make can take months or years to play out. So, when they need to be more agile and flexible, moving their spend around, it's important to work with them rather than stubbornly forcing them to stick to an architecture that might no longer be valid. So, the two programs that they offer are service portability and a performance guarantee. It means that if the customer doesn't feel like INAP is performing up to their standards, they can leave without penalty. Some of the big, specialist infrastructure providers play a ‘gotcha' game with clients, locking then into a three-year, five-year, or even longer contract with no flexibility. To keep a client happy in the long term, it's much better to offer flexible terms, rather than muscle them with business or legal threats. That leads to more business referrals and better word of mouth. Mike admits that the geographic portability clause can be a little nerve wracking, particularly when cost structure varies from territory to territory. But it's important to make that work to keep clients happy. He wants them to be excited when they talk about INAP, seeing them as part of the solution and not part of the problem. Mike's Take on Industry Challenges and Exciting Trends One of the biggest challenges right now is making the hybrid experience as easy to consume as possible. There needs to be more automation, more options for self-service. Clients want services that work seamlessly across all platforms, no matter where they're being hosted. INAP's entire near future roadmap is centered around enhancing automation and self-service, that's how important ease of use has become. Edge networking is the other big challenge. 5G and IoT might be drivers towards this trend, but there will be so many applications for it soon. And though public Cloud will play a role, security and performance factors will necessitate that a lot of that activity takes place on private Cloud infrastructure.

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/overview?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– 0:00 - Intro 0:56 - 2021 2:15 - 2021 Demand 5:09 - 2021 M&A Activity 8:12 - 2021 Future Supply 11:10 - 2022 Market Size 13:12 - 2022 Absorption 15:00 - 2022 Vacancy 16:23 - 2022 Pricing 22:04 - Q&A ––––– Join us as we look back at the main trends in the data center industry that took place in 2021. We'll also look ahead to 2022 and let you know our thoughts on what the data center industry will look like as we get ready to jump into the new year.

We recently got the chance to sit down once again with Peter Jones, Chief Development Officer and founder at Yondr, and get his thoughts on the European data center industry. A Little Bit About Yondr and Pete For those unfamiliar, Yondr is a privately owned network provisioning company that offers modular data center designs: MicroBloc, MetroBloc, and HyperBloc. On one end of the spectrum is hyperscale, in the 10s to 100s of megawatts range. On the other end of the spectrum, tailored small scale deployments that help people enter new markets. Sometimes the small scale deployments are in places that have no colocation presence whatsoever. Yondr's presence spans over three continents, employing over 300 people and still hiring as quickly as possible. Peter started off as an electrical engineer on the design side, before transitioning into delivery management for Digital Realty during their big EU expansion from 2009 to 2011. From 2011 to 2018 he was part of Google's global infrastructure team, taking a year off in the middle to skipper a sailing yacht from the UK to New Zealand. In 4Q of 2018, he started Yondr with Dave Newitt and Miles Redding. They predicted an unprecedented level of network growth by the turn of the decade… but had no idea how much the pandemic would accelerate that need at a global level. 2021 has been a transformational year, with Yondr's headcount constantly on the rise, and client demands ramping up in both frequency and scope. The EU Data Center Services Scene We asked about some of the real time trends in the EU, having seen the vacancy rates in Europe's major data centers drop from 11.4% down to 7.5% over the last eight quarters. Peter noted that the drawdown in capacity was fated even before news of the pandemic started to spread. Additional capacity slowed down during the pandemic of course, and now there are either active or planned moratoriums on new builds in some of the five major markets. So, it's not surprising that those numbers are coming down. In the broader market, there's been an influx of new money, and thus new startups. But with no real pedigree amongst the new companies and a limited number of good locations to invest the available money, caution is at an all time high. Everyone knows that the need for bandwidth is there, but the trend in the late 2010s of failing projects and under deliveries is a specter that hangs over the industry. This is a temporary phenomenon in the EU. Eventually, the market will churn out winners and losers in the new industry startups, and those who execute successfully will be trusted with bigger investments and larger scale projects. There's an amazing level of persistence right now; an obsession that causes companies to stick with the big five regions and absorb every possible watt of power and cubic centimeter of space rather than expand into nearby suburbs. The level of tolerance for long lead times and high prices in these areas is at an absurd high. Sure, there are massive day one costs to break ground in a new place. But with prices skyrocketing in these major networking metros, something has to give eventually. Clients in the EU are looking for big tranches (of both power and bandwidth) right now, either to consolidate their fragmented network hosting portfolio or to avoid fragmentation in the future. This is where some clients are tempted to push outward, away from the overpopulated metro areas… as long as they're presented with a growth story they can really believe in.

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/overview?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– The top four hyperscale data center users have expanded their own footprint by an average of 26% per year. But will that growth continue? We think the answer is yes. Read back through our series on hyperscale data centers and you'll notice the consistent reappearance of one word in particular: growth. With the creation of over 200 new hyperscale data centers between 2017-2020, the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific regions are experiencing a boom in hyperscale services. But what about the future? Will the location strategy change over time, or can all parties and places expect continued expansion? And lastly, will the sustainability topic ever be fully answered? We sat down to look at the stats and see just what the future of hyperscale data centers may have in store. How will hyperscale users continue to grow into the future? Over the last five years, the top four hyperscale data center users have grown by an average of 26% per year. For this type of expansion to continue, a few things need to happen. First, growth appears tied to the continual adoption of public cloud. Surveying the industry as a whole, it doesn't seem like that growth has any plans to slow down. Hyperscale data centers continue to master the public cloud and cloud services industries as they also expand their business into other related verticals. Second, there will continue to be tradeoffs in the hyperscalers who own vs. those who lease. Companies are leasing more as a percentage of their total, but it's unclear if that balance will continue. The demand across hyperscale data centers is too great for only one of these options to grow. Hyperscale users are consistently growing at a speed that requires flexibility across centers, whether they own them or lease them. Combine that with the fact that those doing the leasing from the data center operator perspective have gotten a lot better. Their facilities, their design, and their PUE, are capable of fitting the user footprint much better than they could five or ten years ago. So, while the percentage of owned vs. leased hyperscale data centers may change, it's unlikely that we'll ever see groups commit to one type of growth pattern ever again. How will hyperscale location strategy change over time? Looking at how the top four companies are utilizing hyperscale data centers across different cities, a few locations quickly rise to the top. • Northern Virginia: 3,700 MW • Des Moines: 591 MW • Omaha: 400 MW • Columbus: 392 MW • Phoenix, Atlanta, and Dallas: 310-360 MW • Prineville, Kennewick: 275-285 MW While several places on this list are in what could be considered ​​non-traditional colocation markets, they've long had a large footprint compared to other cities that are closer to end users. Places like Northern Virginia and Des Moines were cities who knew the impact that building hyperscale data centers would have on their overall economic growth. Now, others are starting to catch wind of what those places have long known. For the future of hyperscale data centers, demand will be pushed more towards major colocation markets for several reasons. One, the cost of delivering to end users located far away is high. We will continue to see a trend of hyperscale data centers moving toward the people they serve. Combine that with the economic incentives being provided for new sites and it's likely that the trend of additional growth in more traditional (at least from a multi-tenant perspective) data center markets will continue.

Kirk's background is in the U.S. military, serving as an electronics technician aboard the USS Memphis until the turn of the century. After getting out of the Navy, he started looking for career paths to plug himself into. He worked as a field service engineer while simultaneously getting his Bachelor of Business Management degree. Because the role involved traveling from site to site, he got to witness the building of multiple data centers and tech businesses in the early 2000s. After graduation, he became the Southwest Regional Project Manager at EATON. Towards the end of his tenure there, he was diagnosed with cancer. As he was battling against the disease, he vowed to strive for something much bigger than his management role. With whatever time he had left, he wanted to master the skills that would put him on top of the industry. He skipped around for the next few years, learning what he could from each company or contract as he went: EDSA Micro, HP, Modular Power Solutions, CyrusOne, NOVA Mission Critical, and Aligned Energy. He had opportunities to work with some of the best companies in the industry. He was also fortunate enough to remain healthy in the process of gaining this experience. When Kirk had learned everything he could, all the while making some excellent industry contacts and lifelong friends, he was ready for the next step. In 2015, he became the Co-Founder of Data Center Austin Conference (DCAC). From there he didn't look back. Later he expanded his grasp, becoming the CEO of OVERWATCH Mission Critical, which recently celebrated its second anniversary. Around half the staff is ex-military, driven and mission oriented. Sometimes their skill sets didn't apply directly to the industry, but their tenacity allowed these recruits to adapt to their new, fast paced industry even though it has such a high learning curve. One of their first clients, Compass Datacenters, helped them to set up the diversity and apprenticeship programs that shaped OVERWATCH's culture. Why Does Ex-Military Apprenticeship Matter? The common thread that runs through the soul of every ex-military person is drive. They spent years with concrete routines and long work hours, sometimes upwards of 100 hours a week even outside of combat environments. Transitioning to civilian life can leave these veterans without direction. There's a mental health crisis for a lot of veterans, with military suicides being four times more common than combat fatalities worldwide. Civilian life is simply a different universe. Direction and purpose are the keys to bridging these two lifestyles successfully. Whether these veterans have experienced trauma during their service, or whether they're just experiencing a massive culture shock that leaves them questioning their purpose and identity, a disciplined framework needs to go hand in hand with an understanding environment. This is why ex-military apprenticeship is so critical. It provides an all-important lifeline that will help them to achieve reintegration more successfully.

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/overview?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– The Hyperscale and Enterprise Booms The hyperscale sector was just starting to take on a life of its own when Data Center Frontier was founded. Rich says one of their first pieces was 'The Rise of the Cloud Data Center'. The two key components to that story were 'scale' and 'edge'. Hyperscale players have been transformative, particularly because they allowed investors to understand data centers in a brand new way. Traditional real estate investors used to have a hard time getting into the old business model. But these days, hyperscale often presents single owner facilities with well respected tenants, all of whom have great credit histories and lots of assets. It is a much easier-to-understand proposal. The big investors bring not only the ability to take advantage of economies of scale, but they provide a kind of industrialization to the industry. Rich says that what happened in 2020 paralleled the kind of events that happened in the 2009 financial crisis. Cash became king. Enterprises became more careful with their spending, and large organizations had to make touch investment choices. 2020 was a 'wait and see' time for them, and a lot of projects got put on hold. But in 2021, the faucet was turned back on. With more certainty into the future of tech, enterprise projects started to move forward again. The data centers that relied on enterprise business started to boom. How the Data Center Services Market Has Changed Rich says that one of the most interesting things about the industry is that when he's talking to less technical people, he no longer needs to describe what a data center is. People have an understanding of how they're connected to the Internet, and how data centers can impact their lives. During the pandemic, the entire world relied on data centers in a new way: Zoom, online learning, remote healthcare, and immense E-commerce. Public officials in communities and smaller localities suddenly understood the importance and value of these places. Carrier hotels were the centers of the old data center world. They were located next to the old Ma Bell facilities. But they tended to be in major population centers. Power and space were expensive. Thus, the shift into the suburbs in later years. More recently, carrier hotels are back in vogue. In fact, some investment companies just buy up carrier hotels, upgrade them, and remarket them. A lot more capital has been flowing into that space recently. What's the Next Big Thing? When asked about the tech that will most contribute to the growth of the data center services industry, Rich immediately went to artificial intelligence. Bottom line benefits and providing business value are the key drivers to AI adoption. Those desirable outcomes won't change any time soon. Really, AI is an infrastructure story. Given the plans Rich has heard about in recent virtual industry get togethers, some of the stuff in the AI hardware pipeline takes place at an unprecedented scale. So that's the biggest growth point to watch. AR and VR are coming along more slowly. But they're resource intensive as well. So that's the next one to watch, along with autonomous tech like vehicles. Digital transformation and infrastructure will need to cope with the changes as demand ramps up.

Excited to provide our latest update on 3Q 2021 data center market trends. We'll discuss our analysis in North America, Europe, and APAC markets.

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/request-a-demo?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– Other videos referenced: Bruce Lehrman HawkTalk - https://youtu.be/fm4Tl4newI0 Colocation Done Right - https://youtu.be/ZQHZOh8orTU Bill Fathers HawkTalk - Coming very soon Why is Data Center Connectivity Important? - https://youtu.be/jl5zqFvH_zU ––––– 1:15 - How will new technology enable modularity when constructing new data centers? 4:05 - As technology improves and density continues to grow, will large data centers ultimately become obsolete? 6:49 - How should you plan to manage a migration to cloud project? 9:55 - When a data center tenant is paying $100 per kilowatt, what all is included in that $100? 12:31 - What's going on in the African data center markets? 15:46 - Can you explain data center tiering levels? 18:22 - What's the value for a data center being near a subsea cable? 20:48 - Questions around the importance of connectivity

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/request-a-demo?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– Josh Bosquez CTO of Armor Cloud Security got to talk about the state of data center cybersecurity in a recent HawkTalk conducted by David Liggitt from datacenterHawk. This article is a general overview of the state of security in the industry, as well as the predictions that David and Josh talked about during the interview. Data Center Security in the Distant and Recent Past Josh is in a unique position to talk about cybersecurity for data centers. He cut his teeth in the Dallas telco industry in the late 1990s. Back then, the scene was all about the monitoring and empowering of data centers and creating new kinds of infrastructure automation. Later Josh and his team moved into the realm of compliance testing and automation. When the Cloud started to flourish, the focus became providing cybersecurity that could scale on demand. This is how he came to work with so many security oriented managed service providers (MSPs) in recent years. Josh noted that back in the old days, security planning and the protection of physical space like a data center was relatively easy. You could see the cables and the hardware, and you knew how everything stacked. But in the Cloud, things are abstracted. Everything is hands off. New techniques needed to be learned in this virtual terrain. As more and more companies moved to full or hybrid Cloud, the security strategy became far more complicated. Technician training and certification needed to be ramped up, and some companies needed to entirely rewrite their cybersecurity playbook. Data Center Security in 2021 Josh noted that as far as the most common things companies can do to protect themselves in 2021, there's no one silver bullet. But the most important thing is user education. If they don't know about ransomware, and phishing attempts, and what links are unsafe or unwise to click, about how IT support will actually contact them, and what questions they're allowed to ask... the user is a security liability. After education, the priorities are anti-virus, anti-spyware, and the like. But user education is number one in any case. With remote work becoming a top priority, trying to protect users at home is a big challenge in some companies. They had set up a safe environment in the office, and then suddenly everyone was a telecommuter. The protection they set up in the past has to rapidly shift in order to cover this new paradigm. He was asked to address what strategies companies providing data center services are using to protect themselves and their current customers. He said that these days, Armor standardizes around ways to gain full visibility into an environment. Every layer of the OSI model needs to be accounted for in some way, from physical data center access to network security, to access control, to hosts, and everything in between. To do this, a cybersecurity team needs to be able to see every asset out there, whether it's real or virtual. And the monitoring tools and reporting methods need to be understandable by experienced CISMs and relative laymen alike since you never know who you're going to need to explain a security situation to get buy-in for critical systems. A lot of organizations are leaning on security MSPs, simply because the budget for internal security has not changed over the years, while the complexity of the cybersecurity landscape has ramped up tremendously. So, they leverage the expertise of MSPs in the security compliance space even as they continue to build their own internal capabilities. Then they can use the monitoring, reporting, and automation tools that are provided by firms like Armor.

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/request-a-demo?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– Co-founder & Partner of Hyperco, Aleksi Taipale shares his insights on the future and growth in the data center services industry. We explore the past, present, and expectations of Hyperco as well as their strategy to expand in the Nordic region. Be sure to check out the video above for the full conversation, but if you're short on time, scan through our quick takeaways below. Establishing Hyperco In the interview, Aleksi discussed how Hyperco was conceptualized, the current conditions, and the plans for the future on our latest Hawk Talk. The co-founders of Hyperco, Ville Vartiainen, Timo Pohjanpalo, and Aleksi started researching the data center market and found it to be an interesting niche. They found that there weren't many development-oriented investors in the Nordic region in the space, which opened the opportunity for a new entrant. They found that the area has a good amount of potential growth as the industry becomes more mature. Due to Aleksi's background at Nordic institutional investor NREP, he was able to raise the capital they needed to start Hyperco. Sustainability and the plan on expanding Hyperco Sustainability is the core of the Hyperco mission. Aleksi discussed how they are looking to use the waste energies that cause global warming and turn it into something useful by using it to run data centers. Hyperco is working with the team that opened Google's Finland data center and the 50-megawatt Yandex data center in Mäntsälä. This group was one of the first in the world to work in this kind of waste recovery program, which is currently warming around 80% of the 20,000 person municipality of Mäntsälä. Hyperco sees a large opportunity to bring similar arrangements to other areas and wants to mimic their success in helping their communities. When it comes to expansion, Aleksi stated that they want to focus on the Nordic region right now, but that they are in the process of hiring people from different parts of the world in hopes of becoming multinational. They are following the market closely and are interested in the East European Region and areas close to it, where there is a lot of data center activity. Be sure to check out the video above for the full conversation.

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/request-a-demo?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– We recently sat down with JSA's founder and CEO, Jaymie Scotto Cutaia. JSA had just joined the prestigious ranks of the 2021 Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies. In this overview, Jaymie shares her insights on marketing and brand promotion in the data center services industry, and we hear about the past, present, and future of not only JSA, but of the public relations within the sector. The Value of Good PR David asked who Jaymie and her team decided on what services and values that JSA would bring to the table in those early days? She said that the company had to redefine the word 'agency'. She never liked dealing with ad agencies in the past, and so she worked hard on JSA's image within the industry. Public relations, event planning, and marketing were just tactics used to create a core message for a company. The real deliverable was setting up clear calls to action for each campaign, and then using the best tools available, rather than taking a scattershot approach and seeing what stuck. ROI, data-driven approaches were central to their method. And it worked. In 2008, JSA started their blog ‘Telecom News Now', recently rebranded to The JSA Blog which now has 250,000 readers in the industry. Readers include data center operators, telecom carriers, and enterprise businesses across all sectors who were interested in the colocation (and more recently Cloud hosting) industry. Eventually, they moved into social media, videos, podcasts... pretty much adopting them as soon as those mediums emerged on the scene. Planning and Executing a Media Strategy David asked what advice Jaymie would give to people who are interested in starting blogs and podcasts? She said that now is the time, as they're hotter than ever. As an example, JSA started Datamovers the year of the pandemic, and they already have 7,000 regular listeners. Because people are working differently, some remotely, others with a commute if they're essential workers, others with odd or flexible hours... you simply don't know what the best way will be for any given individual to consume your content. So providing different methods to digest information is critical. Multiple channel marketing plans are the key to success in 2021. Step 1: Start with strategy. Ask yourself: Why do this? How will it incorporate your brand? Who are the listeners, what are their interests and pain points? Will you be solving their issues with fresh content? Step 2: Get together the list of aspirational speakers to include, both as hosts and as guests. What's the host structure, one or multiple? What is each host bringing to the podcast... a baked-in audience? Credibility? Will they promote the show on their end? Finally, which guests will drive value to the exercise? Step 3: Build a content calendar. Given the selected speakers, the goal is to build a consistent schedule. The time frame needs to be achievable, reliable, and realistic. Build in two to four weeks between recording and release dates, so you can be proactive in production, rather than reactive and frantic. Step 4: Book guests, promote, record, optimize, repeat. Any issues? Contact JSA!

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/request-a-demo?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– Find out how Ascent and Lincoln Rackhouse will combine data center facilities management operations to create a full-service, best-in-class platform focused on meeting the complex requirements and escalating demands of enterprise and hyperscale users. If you've followed along with developing data center news, you've likely heard about the partnership between Ascent and Lincoln Rackhouse—two groups that have combined forces to change the way we look at data center facilities management operations. We sat down with Martin Peck, Executive Vice President of Lincoln Rackhouse, and Bob Painter, President of Ascent, to hear about their journey toward partnership and their hopes for the future. But first, some background. The History of Ascent and Lincoln Rackhouse Founded in 1998, Ascent is a data center colocation provider located in St. Louis, Missouri. Recently, the company has grown to the Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Toronto markets where they provide full life cycle support for data center facilities. Ascent's client list includes several Fortune 500 companies, and the company's Dynamic Data Center Suite offering gives customers purpose-built, dedicated data center infrastructure. Ascent is a one-stop-shop for all critical infrastructure needs, and works hand-in-hand with customers to provide flexible, scalable, secure, and highly available solutions to ensure their individual needs are met. Lincoln Rackhouse is the data center division of Lincoln Property Company, and it focuses on helping clients locate, analyze, and secure data center space to lease or own. Dallas-based Lincoln Property has earned its reputation as effective, professional managers of residential and commercial properties with more than 50 years of experience in building, owning, and managing one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the United States. Upon the acquisition of Rackhouse Group in 2010, the newly created Lincoln Rackhouse division allowed Lincoln Property to diversify its professional repertoire to include data center development. Today, Lincoln Rackhouse offers unparalleled market and industry knowledge with an unbiased approach in fulfilling technology requirements. A Mutual Commitment to Serving Clients Hearing Martin and Bob talk about their experience working together and planning this partnership, it's easy to tell that their shared commitment to both their customers and their employees made this an easy match. Ascent's services, which include data center operations and maintenance management, design, construction management, consulting, and engineering, will help customers reduce risk as they gain more control over their data center environments. Combine their experience serving customers with Lincoln Rackhouse's data center acquisition, development, and project management activities and the companies are poised for growth. Lincoln Rackhouse currently manages a large portfolio of data centers, with over 2 million square feet of mission critical space across the U.S. and in London. As Lincoln Rackhouse continues to acquire and develop enterprise data center facilities, each acquisition and development will benefit from the expertise that Ascent now brings—an advantage not lost on Martin Peck. Hearing Martin and Bob talk about the partnership makes it hard not to cheer for them and their teams. They have a shared confidence in the values and strengths that both groups bring to the table, and it's clear that the future for what they can do together is bright.

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/request-a-demo?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– Transitioning to a digital space on short notice is never easy. But it's a unique challenge when you're the world's largest organizer of data center industry events. We were lucky enough to spend some time with George Rockett of Data Center Dynamics as he prepared to relaunch the company's live event calendar in Q4 of 2021. We asked him about the early days of his industry experience, and how he got into the market. Data Center Services in the Early Days George got into the market when the space was relatively new. Back in 1997, he was working in marketing. He and his DCD co-founder Dan Scarbrough had the opportunity to sell data center space. At first they were treating it like ad space, but that didn't quite work. So they did their research and eventually became experts on the subject. Not wanting that knowledge to go to waste, they set up a magazine called CoLo Network Europe in an effort to educate the public about the emerging colocation market. In the process, they helped create the vocabulary to describe what was going on in the industry. By 2002 the two of them started to put on their own events, which was a massive catalyst to their overall success. DCD became synonymous with data center services conventions, and the rest was history. Specialization in Data Center Services We asked about the most popular topics that people have been asking about in 2021. George said that the industry can be quite specialized, so the requests that they hear can be diverse. But in general, people want to talk about future trends. 2030 is a key year for many countries and organizations: Carbon neutral trends and other power usage concerns are forcing big changes in the workplace. But some of the technologies that will be required to achieve those goals aren't quite ready for implementation yet. Another popular topic is density, which so often is connected to rack space and cooling capacity. But the boundaries on capacity are constantly being pushed. Which leads to the discussion of risk aversion within the industry, and the willingness to adopt some of these new technologies and techniques. We asked how the vendor community has been adjusting. George didn't have hard statistics, but gave a gut feeling on that subject. Massive vendors who spend hundreds of millions on R&D are adjusting just fine. But there are a huge slew of specialist companies, smaller and more focused. These dedicated suppliers grow as the industry grows, and they need to contend with the risk aversion endemic to data center services. Colocation is spreading around the world, and regional tech variance is lessening. The solutions chosen need to scale very quickly. The complete industrialization of the data center is a threat to the small actors. If they go away then less independent, less innovative thought might be the result. The industry needs to focus on helping the best smaller companies to scale, in order to keep innovation and quality levels high.

Interested in Hyperscale data centers? Sign up for our free hyperscale data center course: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals Or get a quick 15 minute demo of our platform: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/request-a-demo?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=youtube&utm_campaign=demo ––––– It's no secret that “hyperscale” has been a hot topic in the data center world for a while now, but what impact are they having on the data center industry as a whole? Let's find out… While a data center can support hundreds of physical servers and several thousands of virtual machines, hyperscale facilities support thousands of physical servers incorporating millions of virtual machines. So yes, hyperscale data centers are much larger in both design and capabilities, but we're also beginning to see their influence spread beyond their own four walls. With the continued growth of the hyperscale data center market (which, according to Global Market Insights, is expected to rise from $20 billion in 2018 to $65 billion by 2025), every major data center company has had to develop a specific strategy around how they will approach this ever-increasing sector of the market. How Data Center Companies Handle Hyperscale When it comes to leasing wholesale and build-to-suit data center space, hyperscale companies are controlling the demand, making them the primary customer that decides how data centers develop worldwide. Because of the massive growth of cloud service providers like Amazon, these hyperscale companies are not able to self-build all of the capacity their growth requires. So part of the burden rests on colocation providers to help meet the increased demand. We have seen a gradual increase in the amount of capacity hyperscale companies lease vs. build in recent years. In order for colocation providers to capture some of this demand, they need to have a strategy for how to approach land acquisition, development, and a sustainable path to growth. An example of this can be seen on Facebook's Oregon campus. Originally, they had three 330,000-square-foot data center buildings. But recent improvements to the campus have created room for up to seven 450,000-square-foot buildings. As for creating a path for growth, new campuses being built by data center REITs are being designed with long-term roadmaps to have 350 MWs of capacity or more (up from the typical 50-100 MW). How Hyperscale Affects Data Center Design In the past, data center companies would build a facility that they felt would attract the most number of customers. This led to over-engineered facilities that were not cost-effective. With many “multi-tenant” facilities now going to a single tenant on a pre-lease basis, companies are designing building components like generator redundancy to a single customers' requirements. This ultimately brings the cost of the development down as it removes the guesswork. Additionally, while economics is still a significant factor in site selection, both the cost of the lease and the cost of power, hyperscale companies have become more focused on the scalability factor. Instead of only asking how much this capacity will cost today, hyperscale developers must also think about how much it will cost to increase the power usage in the future. Hyperscale data centers consume massive amounts of power, often creating a large carbon footprint. To offset this issue, we see large hyperscale companies developing their own wind farms and solar energy plants as a means of supporting their operation. Furthermore, indirect evaporative or direct evaporative cooling techniques are used to handle water conservation. These are just some of the questions raised by the development of hyperscale data centers around the world. The impact of hyperscale growth will only continue to increase. In the meantime, stay tuned for the next article in our hyperscale series where we'll discuss the future of hyperscale data centers.

Nigel Clarkson, CEO of Stratus Data Centres, shares how the growing competition in the US markets has kept them focused on developments in Europe, Africa, India, Australia, and Asia. Nigel Clarkson's decades of experience in the data center space preceded him as he spoke about the latest happenings with Stratus Data Centres. Having led the successful construction of major data center facilities in Europe, South Africa, and Asia—from identifying and acquiring sites to overseeing construction and commissioning—he is capable of providing insight into the current state of those markets. The Stratus Approach Stratus Data Centres is a data center property platform led and managed by an experienced, specialist management team with over 20 years of proven track record in data center property investments, development, and management. Two of their largest developments are London and Frankfurt. The London facility is a 100MW data center on a six-acre site in East London and powered by renewable energy. The German project is a 34-acre site that provides an up to 300MW campus. These sites set the standard that Stratus looks to pursue across Europe and Asia. As Stratus continues to grow, they've worked with a number of global investors to identify and secure exclusive access to data center projects and tenants through existing relationships, with the capability to provide comprehensive products that meet tenants' needs. However, Stratus' approach varies from a typical data center operator. Because Stratus isn't an operator themselves, they don't compete with tenants in the colocation business. Instead, they aim to be the long-term property partner with customers so they can leverage their expertise in sourcing sites outside their home markets, securing power and planning, and developing build-to-suit data centers in locations across Asia Pacific and Europe—achieving true “resource augmentation” for global hyperscalers and data center operators. The Need for Local Expertise Nigel shares that data center developers looking to work in any location that's not their home will inevitably need the insight of someone who's on the ground in that country. As someone from Australia but lives in the UK, Nigel acknowledged that he leans on those who are based in the places where Stratus works to develop data centers, particularly in Asia. What Stratus chooses to do differently when working in Asia is they tend to go into joint ventures to leverage the insight of local experts who know the legalities and all that's necessary to develop in their city. Whereas Europe has become the backyard of Stratus, the company also knows where they need outside help from local insiders. Working with joint ventures inevitably means more people involved in a project, but Stratus believes this is the best way to develop and deliver great data centers. When asked about how his work is going, Nigel responds by saying he's busier than ever. The growth and competition currently happening in the US markets is starting to rise in Europe and Asia Pacific. And as these countries continue to develop the need for more data centers, Stratus will be ready.

Want more Hyperscale content? Sign up to receive our free Hyperscale Data Center course once it's live: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals At the end of 2017, there were nearly 400 hyperscale data centers worldwide. By the end of 2020, that number had leapt up to nearly 600. The question isn't if the number of hyperscale data centers is growing, but where. Current data shows that around 40% of hyperscale centers are in the United States—specifically, Northern Virginia, Northern California, Phoenix, Dallas, and Chicago—have all seen hyperscale development and leasing. Right behind the U.S., Europe and Asia Pacific have seen growth as well. According to recent data, China currently hosts 10% of the world's hyperscale sites, followed closely by Japan, Germany, the UK, Australia, Canada, India, and Singapore. In our conversation with Tag Greason, the Chief Hyperscale Officer at QTS, he shared that the hyperscale market requires four things: scale, speed to market, price, and location. So when it comes to the last variable, how do hyperscale developers decide where to build? The factors that go into hyperscale site selection Cost of power will always be a driving decision when it comes to building data centers, and for hyperscale centers, it's an even bigger factor. The average provider designs for 150-175 watts per square foot, which comes to approximately 7-8 kilowatt per rack. Hyperscale data centers, however, can require 240-300 watts per square foot (15 kilowatt per rack) or more. Depending on the provider, planning for capacity and understanding the costs that go with certain needs is paramount. In addition to understanding the cost of power, hyperscale centers also pay special attention to the reliability of that power. For a higher degree of reliability (in some cases 99.999%), hyperscale centers often utilize multiple diverse paths with underground service. Many hyperscale centers require feed from two separate substations—preferably from different grids and different providers. And in some cases, the use of different power sources like nuclear and hydro can be used effectively. Of course, raising the subject of power sources inevitably leads to the topic of sustainability. Hyperscale data centers obviously utilize massive amounts of energy and are therefore under intense scrutiny for doing so in an environmentally conscious manner. Some companies have gone as far to develop their own wind farms and solar energy plants near their hyperscale operations. And when it comes to issues like water conservation, indirect and direct evaporative cooling techniques have become a common method. All that to say, hyperscale data center developers have to weigh a lot of variables when choosing a location. But one way they've gone about doing that work is by following in the footsteps of others. Current hyperscale developments attract more growth One of the trends seen with hyperscale data center development is clustering, which allows data center users to take advantage of the infrastructure and connectivity that's already in place. For example, many believe the Phoenix data center market has similar growth opportunities as Northern Virginia, where hyperscale development is at its highest. Microsoft and Google's recent investments into the Phoenix area have made it more attractive to others who are looking to build off of the growth that's already started there. While Phoenix has the advantage of low operating expenses, we're also seeing it have the gravitational pull of hyperscale users investing in the market one after another. So, when looking for locations where hyperscale data centers will be in the future, look at the ones that are already starting to develop. Growth will beget more growth, creating a compounding effect as hyperscale data centers look to cluster near each other and grow together.

The History of CyrusOne Since 2001, CyrusOne has competed at the forefront of the data center industry as a respected leader and innovator. Today, their portfolio includes more than 40 enterprise-class facilities across 3 continents and more than 4 million square feet of total net rentable square footage. CyrusOne is also known for introducing industry firsts such as the CyrusOne National Internet Exchange (IX)interconnection platform, Massively Modular® data center engineering and an online purchasing interface known as Data Center Marketplace. And in 2013, CyrusOne began trading on the NASDAQ Exchange under the symbol CONE. We recently spoke with Matt Pullen, the Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Europe for CyrusOne, about the current state of CyrusOne operations and what the future holds for them and other data center operators. Pullen is responsible for driving the growth of CyrusOne's operations in Europe and delivering the very best in data center excellence to CyrusOne's hyperscale and enterprise customers worldwide. And as he shared with us, in addition to continuing to promote excellence across everything that CyrusOne delivers, the company is also eagerly searching for answers to what everyone continues to ask about the environmental impact of data centers around the world. The Sustainability Question With some of the largest companies in the world as their customers, CyrusOne is invariably a part of the sustainability commitments made by their clients. Pullen makes it clear that sustainability isn't just something CyrusOne looks at passively — they're committed to leading the conversation. The data centers CyrusOne builds today will hopefully serve customers for decades to come, meaning that data centers aren't just responsible for responding to today's sustainability questions, but tomorrow's as well. As Pullen explains, if we concentrate on solving yesterday's problems, we'll be locking ourselves into data center designs and systems that may be ill-suited for the environmental challenges of the future. With ever-increasing demands, solutions won't come easy. Pullen shares that some data centers used to view 40-50% utilization as high, but now CyrusOne has customers who will run close to 100% utilization. Considering that customers have their own corporate targets, the responsibility rests on Pullen and his team to make sure they're providing the most efficient data centers out there. At the end of the day, data center utilization rates are reaching unprecedented heights. So in addition to maintaining an adequate PUE and water utilization efficiency, CyrusOne has to grapple with density numbers jumping from 7.5 kW per rack to around 12.5 kW per rack and the increase in the stress on cooling efficiency that brings with it. The conversation for a solution, Pullen shares, is still ongoing. Data centers will have to communicate with local governments to get on the same page about whether data centers operating at a higher temperature may be an operational option or if there are other solutions out there. Whether governments will step in with regulatory measurements or if they'll allow data centers to continue to self-regulate is yet to be seen. If data center providers hope to determine their own future, they'll have to act fast. While we can daydream about a future where data centers may one day fit in our pockets, Pullen is quick to point out that the miniaturization of data centers hasn't happened since he joined this industry — and it doesn't look like it will soon. This means that it's up to companies like CyrusOne to innovate to sustainably serve their clients before governments feel the impetus is on them to step in and facilitate changes. For those looking to break into the data center market, the sustainability side of this equation is yet unanswered — leaving room for those who are capable of providing excellent service in an environmentally friendly way to make a mark.

Adapting to the rapidly shifting data center services market by taking a hybrid approach that straddles the line between being a service provider and being a consultancy. What Are the Data Center Trends That Deft Sees for 2021? Deft serves a lot of different kinds of customer needs: Hybrid Cloud services, colocation, management of both on and off premises networking assets, and third-party service integration. Kubernetes and other container-based Cloud servers are some of the hottest products for a lot of their clients. Auditing and consulting services are also quite popular. Public Cloud has become an important cost saving component in quite a few client networks. AWS and Azure are go-to resources, even for hardcore co-location clients. Almost everyone has a hybrid solution, at the end of the day. Analysis of customer workloads allows Deft to advise clients through their data planning stages. One of the most important questions that they ask is: How are the clients utilizing the technology in their possession, and where do they want to be in the near and the distant future? Deft has found that some clients leap fully into the Cloud before they really look. It is often in a client's best interest to slow down, and not just blindly commit to putting all of their operations in the Cloud. The more time and attention put into a detailed, nuanced plan, the better the functionality and cost savings. Getting better metrics for the use of each business application and examining the potential growth of each app over the next few years, are two of the keys to a successful migration. This form of analysis represents the consultancy side of Deft's business model. They find themselves fighting against initiatives that drive businesses to ‘follow the leader' just because senior leadership read some generalized studies that urged full Cloud conversion. They encourage a more scientific approach to future planning, preventing clients from chasing buzzwords unless the metrics and cost considerations bear out such a dramatic technology shift. Over the last five years, Deft has been able to go to the locations where clients wanted to migrate, following them to several continents throughout the world. Big business partners will often ask for services in the likes of Sydney, Brazil, Tokyo, and Amsterdam. Once data center services are up and running in those new locations for their old clients, Deft will open up the doors to new customers in the region. Typical hybrid data center services that are on offer in these new locations include: Ping/power/pipe, MSP services for AWS, white glove services like disaster recovery, automated backup, managed firewall solutions, security monitoring, connectivity solutions, IP transport and transit, backbone services, and edge network solutions. Each facility is close to a peering point with low latency, which can then be used as a way to scale businesses all over the region. Because Deft is privately held, they can do what is best for their clients and closely follow their needs with bespoke services. Then the most successful of these specialized services can become a more broadly available product, open to all clients. Around 40 percent of Deft's clients have some kind of global footprint, while 60 percent are strictly U.S. based at the moment. However, a high percentage of those U.S. companies are multihomed throughout the nation. Points of presence throughout the continental United States allow Deft to offer low latency edge networking solutions, comprehensive data backup plans, and communications solutions that can virtually shrink the distance between satellite offices.

Want more Hyperscale content? Sign up to receive our free Hyperscale Data Center course once it's live: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/hyperscale-business-development-fundamentals ––––– What is the cloud?: https://www.datacenterhawk.com/blog/what-is-the-cloud-data-center-fundamentals Video with Tag Greason, QTS's Chief Hyperscale Officer: https://www.datacenterhawk.com/blog/hawktalk-25-with-tag-greason-chief-hyperscale-officer-at-qts ––––– With billions of people and tens of billions of devices online today, there's never been a bigger need for computing infrastructure and data facilities. Hyperscale Data Centers: The Way of the Future With billions of people and tens of billions of devices online today, there's never been a bigger need for computing infrastructure and data centers. What's paving the way for companies to scale operations faster than ever before? Hyperscale data centers. What Is a Hyperscale Data Center? A data center is a building that houses an organization's servers and IT equipment. A private, or enterprise data center serve strictly as a resource for the businesses that own them. A multi-tenant, or colocation data center is used as a means of providing infrastructure services to the public. When people refer to hyperscale data centers, they are most often referring to the customers who own or lease a given data center, as well as the size. Tag Greason, Chief Hyperscale Officer at QTS, defines these companies as those who will either build/lease 20+ MW at a time or who will gradually expand to that number over time in 1-3 MW chunks. There are only a small handful of companies in the world who will make those large initial commitments. These are the cloud service providers; Amazon (AWS), Microsoft (Azure), Facebook and Google (GCP). There are a couple dozen more who may grow into that 15-20 MW range over time. These are SaaS and other companies like SAP, SalesForce, Workday, Uber, Lyft, and Twitter. So, a hyperscale data center is one that has been built by a hyperscale company or one that has been designed specifically to meet the needs of a hyperscale company. Many of the latter type are designed in partnership with the company who is leasing the space as part of the pre-leasing process. The Rise of Hyperscale As our world becomes increasingly technological and the demand for storage and compute services has grown, so has the need for facilities to handle these needs. Two trends have driven the need to large-scale IT infrastructure. When cloud computing platforms began to emerge in the late 2000s, they acted as demand aggregators for businesses who were looking to convert their on-premises IT workloads. Cloud platforms allow users to provision resources and scale quickly, often remotely and near-instantaneously. And the companies who provide these services could then forecast future growth and “buy in bulk” to meet that demand. Additionally, the rapid rise of SaaS, streaming, and social media further drives growth in the industry. All three of these types of companies need massive amounts of storage, compute, and bandwidth to meet their customers needs. Who Are the Hyperscale Users? There are now three times as many large-scale data centers being operated by hyperscale providers as there were in 2013. And it's not hard to imagine which companies might be at the top of that list. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and IBM all have hyperscale data centers in every major region of the world, and other top players like Facebook, Apple, Oracle, and Chinese cloud giant Alibaba aren't far behind. These A-listers can take down over 70 megawatts and hundreds of thousands of square feet at a time. Next in line are companies with lower present requirements, but who still want the ability to grow a few megawatts at a time. Among their ranks are companies like Salesforce, SAP, Dropbox, Twitter, Uber, and Lyft.

Development, Land Speculation, and Permit Woes In up-and-coming markets like Madrid and Milan, there's a lot of new development in the data center services industry. Raw land with available local power and resources is being acquired to serve the hyperscale demand in southern Europe. Spain and Italy have been a little slower on the move towards cloud service models, making the potential upside far greater in those regions. Further north, places like Berlin that have never been primary data center markets are gathering a lot of interest from the key hyperscale players. Companies that are looking to mature their footprint in these smaller markets are particularly interested in local businesses and government. They are quite aware that General Data Protection Regulation standards create a demand for data center services within each country's borders. In western Europe, permits for data center creation or modification can take upwards of a year, particularly if they involve drawing more power from the grid. This has even impacted the high-tech centers of London, which are rapidly reaching their listed capacity. The demand for appropriate facilities is so high, there's been some amount of 'land banking' going on, where the big colocation operators will buy development properties in secondary, and even tertiary markets. Some don't even have a short-term strategy for utilization. They're just trying to get ahead of the curve for future hyperscale demand and are willing to develop appropriate facilities based strictly on forecasting data. Because of the importance of getting the right land to build and operate these data center services, even companies who are currently leasing are looking to move into lease-to-own or pure ownership positions soon. One of the main value drivers for bigger clients is flexibility, which is reflected by their desire to partner with data centers that can offer them ownership opportunities. A Glimpse into the Asia Pacific Region datacenterHawk has recently opened operations in the Asia Pacific region, collecting data for our Insight market reporting platform. The way that data center services are offered in various markets differs quite a bit from North America and the Europe, particularly in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, and Sydney. Hong Kong is dominated by just a couple of very significant players. Volume has been holding steady over the past few years, without a lot of the dramatic growth seen elsewhere in the world. Some of that can be attributed to the privacy rules that they need to abide by according to the Chinese government, which has made outside investors more reluctant. But facilities are still being used as a landing point for Chinese operators who wish to expand into the rest of Asia. Singapore is quite a different picture; the desire for investment is there, but the opportunity is lacking. There's been a moratorium on new builds, and they're quite focused on green energy and smarter designs for data center services operations. There's not a huge amount of capacity available now. For any construction that wasn't nearly completed before the pandemic hit, there will continue to be significant delays across the board. Sydney's development is more robust, and the market is far more open. Regulation is present but more reasonable than a lot of other APAC regions. The big Sydney operators are starting to push into Australia's secondary markets such as Melbourne and Canberra. Because of Singapore's availability and new build issues, many companies are opting for investment and data center presence in Sydney, either in the short or the long term.

To learn more about Evoque's MGI product, check it out here: https://www.evoquedcs.com/ Regional Trends in Data Center Services and Markets in 2Q21 Northern Virginia is a market-driven by hyperscale requirements. It saw moderate growth in 2Q, and it's also spreading out to cover a wider geographical area. The sector there is so unique, datacenterHawk is developing a new analysis tool that tracks and reports specifically on hyperscaling trends. It will undoubtedly be useful in other regions as well as some of them grow towards that end of the market. In a way, Phoenix is positioned to be the next Northern Virginia. The amount of interest from large companies and the volume of new development are both indicators of some big movement in the near future. There's a misconception that there's a lot of supply available in the Phoenix market. That might have been somewhat true up until about three months ago. But now, those sites are seeing a lot of activity, and it's just a matter of time before more capacity is needed. Speaking of capacity, Portland has doubled in the last two years. A number of providers with major hyperscale and enterprise credibility have established themselves in the area, so hyperscale users that already have ties with these companies can offer an easy onboarding process. Being on the west coast but outside of the metropolitan areas that have development challenges is a plus. The undersea cables are well-positioned to feed expanding demands in Asia. And the mix of hyperscale and enterprise clients means that even though local companies tend to be much smaller than the likes of Dallas or Chicago, there's still a lot of opportunity for high bandwidth data center services at great prices. Which drives more companies to the area, thus snowballing the trend. Great tax incentives and business-friendly attitudes from the local government certainly help as well. Salt Lake City is an exciting market, continuing to ramp in 2Q. There's lots of pre-leasing from interested users while maintaining their local client base. The providers there are building big, which historically has been rewarded in the region. Proximity to Silicon Valley certainly helps. The development cycle is lagging behind what was seen in Portland by a little more than three years, so the potential for a boom is there.

As data centers around the world continue to move toward sustainability, Norway's unique climate and environmental agencies have made 100% renewable energy possible — and the country is setting the standard for others to follow. What Makes Norway Different? While cities like London, Paris, and Amsterdam continue to get much of the data center attention in Europe, some are starting to realize that there may be better locations to build a data center than in the cities with the highest PSF rent in the world. Enter Norway —a country where low costs meet high sustainability. Norway's cost of electricity is among the lowest in the world (and by far the lowest of European countries), a result of their plentiful natural and renewable resources. The country contains 25 wind farms and over 1,500 hydropower plants, making 98% of Norway's electricity renewable. Also, according to Norway's recent government figures, they currently produce an annual energy surplus of 5TWh and plan to raise that figure to 20TWh in the next 10 years. Green Mountain and Green Energy We recently spoke with Tor Kristian Gyland, CEO of Green Mountain, about what makes Norway an ideal location for data centers — and how Green Mountain manages to operate all of their data centers on 100% renewable energy. Green Mountain designs, builds, and operates high security, robust, wholesale colocation data centers. The company currently offers three data centers in Norway: DC1-Stavanger at Rennesøy just outside Stavanger, DC2-Telemark in Rjukan, and DC3-Oslo, which is just 12 miles outside the capital. Each of these data centers are Tier III certified by Uptime Institute for design and facility, and the centers' existing customers include banks, IT service providers, government agencies, and large enterprises. When it comes to renewable energy, Gyland credits the country of Norway for making sustainability a viable and affordable option. While the cost of land and power in other cities and countries makes it more difficult for data centers to increase their capacity, Norway's cost of power is 75% cheaper than FLAP data centers. That means a 10MW facility in Norway can save 155 million euros over a 10-year period when compared to what they'd spend in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, or Paris. Solving for Cooling and Connectivity One of the most pervasive challenges in the data center industry is the ability to ensure continual cooling throughout the day. At Green Mountain's DC1-Stavanger, they can use cold water from the deep Norwegian fjords located near the facilities to ensure the most efficient and effective cooling process. By using gravity, the cold water flows to the green data center cooling station without the need for power. They then only require minimal power to pump the cold water into the data center through heat exchangers (3kW of power for 1000kW of cooling). This unique cooling system results in high-quality, cost-effective, and energy-efficient data center solutions with a PUE as low as 1.2. Of course, with all of this focus on renewable energy, are Green Mountain data centers able to rival the connectivity abilities of other European data centers? Gyland views connectivity as yet another Norwegian advantage. Due to the investments that have been made in and around Norway over the last three to four years, Norwegian data centers are able to reach 54% of all businesses in Europe with less than 20 milliseconds of round trip. According to experts, such a low latency rate makes it possible to move close to 90% of a data center's workload from Norway to European countries. With the lowest power prices in Europe and the greenest data centers in the world, Green Mountain is setting the standard for sustainability. And Norway is a model that other countries can look to as they work to attract productive and energy-efficient data centers.

David Liggitt, founder of datacenterHawk, recently met with Andy Stewart, CEO of Evoque Data Centers, and Peter Roosakos, CTO of Foghorn Consulting. The news on everyone's mind: Evoque's acquisition of Foghorn. About the Guests, and What Prompted the Acquisition Andy was the CFO and then CSO at TierPoint through over $2 billion worth of acquisitions and funding. He took over as CEO at Evoque about a year ago, which meant that he had to primarily learn the corporate culture and team compositions remotely. Once he established pandemic protocols and got a good look at the internal workings of Evoque, he brought in key executives and revamped the sales model of the company. Each move reflected the industry changes that had been happening since the pandemic started and built towards the overall plan for a post-pandemic future. Peter started in the mid 90's as the cofounder and CTO of Computerlandscapes Inc. Exodus eventually acquired the consulting company to build out their professional services division. Fast forward eight years, and the cloud was in its infancy. Peter's team at Opelin used these new scaling infrastructure capabilities to serve the needs of smaller companies. HP acquired them in 2007, and he stayed on for a couple of years during the transition period. After he left HP, he started Foghorn with the mission of leveraging the public cloud to move companies forward. In the front end of the interview, Andy shared what he's most excited about with the acquisition of Foghorn. The Mountain View-based digital transformation company recently agreed to a union of their offerings. He said that the acquisition will change how Evoque goes to market and drastically expand what they can offer to customers. His enterprise clients want better cost management and visibility into their infrastructure usage. Their feedback made it clear: Digital transformation and application-first approaches were the future of his company. Cloud Computing is the Future... Sometimes David asked Peter how he talks a client through the planning phase and how long a data center and cloud relationship can last. Peter noted that, historically, all-in strategies seemed like the most cost effective and straightforward way to go: Either all on-premises, all in colocation, or all on cloud. But digital transformation has put a stress on pure performance over simplicity. So almost everything these days is a hybrid solution, as the apps take center stage. Optimizing workloads to run on the most performant platforms yields far better long term results. Andy added how this acquisition helps clients plan beyond pure colocation space and power strategies. He mentions that it's hard to stand out from the crowd as a specialist, particularly when cloud computing is such a huge part of the landscape. The flexibility needs to be there. Infrastructure agnostic approaches are far more impressive and can cover clients' holistic needs. It allows a hosting strategy that evolves over time; nothing is static, and nothing is overly painful to adjust to if a new efficiency takes precedence for a client. Andy also shared that an important strategy they've adopted includes providing colocation space to niche service vendors that can meet client needs and introducing them to enterprise clients as service partners.

We sat down with Damien Gaynor, Echelon's Director of Sales and Marketing, to discover what they've done to get into the data center space and what they're doing to stay there. As Gaynor shares, Echelon is working to meet the rapidly expanding global demand for data processing and storage solutions by developing large-scale campuses across Europe (focusing most of their efforts in Ireland). But what makes Echelon different is their focus on sustainability. Sustainable Energy Isn't Just a Niche With the global green data center market expected to grow by $44.92 billion during the 2020-2024 period, it's no secret that this sector of the market is available for anyone looking to make a splash. As cloud computing continues to leave a massive energy footprint, the option to push renewably powered businesses forward rests in the hands of the data center providers. Coming from a commercial real estate background, Damien and the team at Echelon recognized this responsibility as an opening in the European market. They noticed that a majority of the power demand came from large metropolitan areas like London, Slough, Frankfurt, Paris, and Dublin. What they realized was that this demand created areas of strain on networks where the transmission capacity experiences real pressure to deal with all the centralized demand. So instead of trying to break into these urban hubs, Echelon has instead focused on creating data centers in rural areas just outside large cities. Building Close to Renewable Resources For example, their DUB20 site in Wicklow (which is about 30 miles south of Dublin) is located near the Arklow Wind Bank where SSE Renewables is building one of the largest offshore wind farms in Ireland. When it's complete, it will generate about 800-850 megawatts. A hydrogen production facility is also planned for the DUB20 site. With ample access to water from the Avoca River and the proximity of a source of large-scale renewable energy—plus a national grid connection—DUB20 is ideally suited to facilitate the creation of a long-term, sustainable solution to energy storage. The idea is to build a data center closer to a source of renewable power and closer to the point of generation so the grid isn't put under so much pressure. Echelon's theory is that in the short- to medium-term, as the industry moves towards genuinely renewable and environmentally friendly operation, “halfway house” solutions will be required to mitigate against aging and overburdened grid infrastructure. With that in mind, their goal is that all data centers one day be powered wholly by renewable energy. How Financial Incentives Foster Environmental Awareness Damien shares that at the end of the day, the push toward providing power through the use of renewable resources will come down to both the data center providers and the occupiers working toward the same goals. Wanting to be green is fantastic, he shares, but are we willing to pay for it? Are we willing to incentivize the person tasked with delivering the data to do so responsibly? If not, people will continue to default to what is cheapest and easiest. As of today, making an effort to use renewable resources may take some extra energy. But if Echelon is an example of anything, it's that the market is continuing to trend toward renewable resources, and people everywhere want to work with environmentally conscious companies. Right now, the use of renewable resources is a competitive advantage. But soon, environmental awareness and responsible power consumption are going to be considered the bare minimum. The data centers leading this charge today are the ones who will be on top tomorrow.

The APAC data center market has distinct cultural and geographical diversity, unique supply challenges, and a high potential for hyperscale growth that make it a market worth looking at closely. A Diverse Landscape To get a framework for how major and secondary data center markets work in a certain part of the world, it's important to understand the regions of the area. For example, in the United States, the larger data center markets include Northern Virginia, Chicago, Phoenix, Dallas, and Northern California. In Europe, there's Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin (often referred to as “FLAP-D”). Turning to Asia-Pacific, the three major cities that immediately come to mind are Singapore, Sydney, and Hong Kong. What makes the APAC data center market so unique is the cultural diversity it represents. This leads to certain markets operating in near isolation because of the cultures they represent. Japan is seeing growth in Tokyo and Osaka. China has Shanghai and Beijing. On top of that, there's an increasing amount of capacity across Southeast Asia, which includes Jakarta in Indonesia, as well as Vietnam and Thailand. And last, but certainly not least, there's significant activity in India where huge amounts of growth can be expected in the coming years. These unique areas come with their own potential, but supply challenges can still exist anywhere. Market-Specific Challenges Supply chain challenges and issues delivering power infrastructure continue to pop up all around the globe, and the APAC market is no exception. In Singapore, for example, the government has placed a moratorium on new construction. While this has put a halt on the breaking of new ground, it's also made it difficult for those who are in the process of building new sites, as the price of building materials continues to rise. Of course, this issue is specific to Singapore, but that doesn't mean it's without a ripple effect. The Sydney market, and Australia in general, has continued to experience steady demand and even seemed to benefit from the slowdown in Singapore. This trend is one we've seen happen worldwide—where lack of infrastructure or capacity in one area has pushed demand to a neighboring location (which happens often in the U.S.). While Singapore has slowed down at the moment, it still remains an important market to keep an eye on in light of its strategic importance. The same can be said for Hong Kong, which represents the gateway into the China market and where power is relatively inexpensive. Following the Hyperscale Trend Hyperscale data centers are driving the conversation (and the demand) all around the world, and Asia is beginning to see this play out. While we've seen significant investment in subsea fibers that have come from hyperscale centers, Asia is still in the early stages of this process. Part of the reason they're behind the likes of Europe and the U.S. is because of the sheer size and scale of many of their markets. India, for example, requires hyperscale operators to develop a completely new and unique strategy. While a large scale and scope of activity may sound like it means there's more to go around, it has actually led to increased competition as hyperscale operators look to meet the various needs of hyperscale customers. However, hyperscale is only a piece of the puzzle when it comes to Asia. The entrepreneurial energy that exists across all the various markets means new organizations with new technologies are placing new demands on data centers. Being on the edge of new developments certainly means that the data center markets will continue to grow in both demand and capacity. Both primary and secondary markets are poised for growth, so the question one has to ask about the APAC data center market isn't if it will continue to grow, but how fast.

David Horowitz, the SVP and Director of Sales at T5 Data Centers, joins us for a conversation about the Chicago data center market. David walks us through the Chicago market's current challenges and opportunities, and what he sees on the horizon for T5 and the industry as a whole. T5 and the Chicago Market Suburban Chicago has been nurturing a growing data center market for years, and thanks to the presence of players like T5 in the Chicago suburb of Elk Grove Village, the Chicago market is now one of the top in the country. Horowitz says it was around 2007 that data center providers started buying facilities, land sites, and industrial buildings in the area. Early entrants like Exodus and CenturyLink helped create the fiber-rich environment that exists today, and significant investment from local utility provider ComEd brought the necessary power and utility infrastructure for Elk Grove Village to boom. With connectivity to downtown Chicago, Elk Grove Village has become the heart of the city's suburban market. By Horowitz's estimation, there are roughly a million and a half square feet of data center product in the area, all within a 1.5-mile radius. Giving Customers What They Want T5's success in Chicago and elsewhere is owed to their guiding ethos of putting customers' needs first. According to Horowitz, the company has learned a lot of lessons through trial and error, but the most significant learnings have come from paying attention to customers — and responding to what they have to say. Business development has come as a byproduct of simply supporting clients with growing requirements and adapting services to meet customer demand. “We operate the best data centers, “ Horowitz says, “because [our customers] tell us we do.” Dealing with Uncertainty One current challenge Horowitz sees for T5, however, is lease renewal. Transactions from eight to ten years ago are coming up for renewal, and many of those customers have a much different perspective on their utilization rates now than when those agreements were signed. On top of that, migration costs aren't nearly what they used to be. It's now much easier to relocate than in the past, and Horowitz says many more customers are shopping around. “There's a lot of uncertainty about how customers are going to treat lease expirations,” he says. But he's excited about the possibilities that could bring, particularly with build-to-suit opportunities in health care, finance, and with hyperscale users. What's on the Horizon? It's an exciting time for the data center industry, and Horowitz sees big things coming down the pike. First, there's an environmental impact. “Data centers are impactful on the environment,” he says. And T5 is making a big investment in solar panels to support its goals for positive impact. “Sustainability initiatives [are] huge for us,” Horowitz says, not just for T5 internally, but for helping customers achieve their own goals for sustainability as well. Thinking about the next 15 years, Horowitz dreams of helping the world's top 100 companies execute build-to-suit properties, landing government contracts, and expanding T5's business internationally. On the build-to-suit front, Horowitz sees T5 as a collaborative partner, helping with site selection and development — whether they end up owning the facility or handing off keys once the shell is built. The federal government space is also one where Horowitz thinks T5 could support growth from a facility management perspective. For the data center industry as a whole, Horowitz says the best is yet to come. “A couple years ago, people said it was in the second inning. I still think it's in the second inning,” he says.

Phoenix's Data Centers By the Numbers Our latest podcast touches on the changes that have happened in the Phoenix area over the last five years. By measuring the planned power for data centers, the growth metrics become clear. Planned power went from 185 megawatts in 2017, all the way to 1,690 megawatts in 2021. This is to enable the rapid hosting of cloud service providers as soon as they're ready to make their move into local facilities. Some data centers intentionally overestimate their power requirements, sometimes to the point of speculation, just to be ready for a theoretical client boom in the upcoming months. Phoenix is one of the few municipalities that can offer providers of data center services the entire package necessary for immediate growth: Copious amounts of space, sufficient power, water, friendly taxation, and modern purpose-built facilities. When companies look at the operations and opportunity costs of Arizona when compared to the likes of California, Phoenix becomes quite attractive. Corporate Attitudes Driving Data Center Services One of the things that is driving the data center services market in mid 2021 is the trend of moving cloud services as close to the demarcation point as possible in enterprise networks. This means cloud service providers are scrambling to find local presences in major metropolitan data centers, wherever their clients have a significant facility. The reasons are many, ranging from low latency demands from financial services companies to continuous monitoring needs for high uptime applications. Whatever the clients' reasoning, they need to make use of techniques that feed into high speed hybrid clouds. Their needs have to be handled on many different layers of the OSI model, and fully automated to be useful to the DevOps engineers setting up the application servers. This creates a division of labor between the data center services company, the cloud service provider, and the corporate client. Millisecond-critical criteria could be set on a variety of different services: UPS functionality, rack monitoring, network hardware, environmental controls. And that means local points of presence for the cloud provider in every city where their clients operate. Additionally, Phoenix has a ton of enterprise market growth. Companies already based in the area are expanding now that they have a better grasp of what the post pandemic landscape will look like. They're also adding additional capacity as telecommuting becomes a permanent part of their corporate culture. In the near future, the enterprise sector will go back to pre-Covid levels of expansion, if the experts are correct in their predictions. Speaking of looking into the crystal ball… Predictions for Phoenix's Future We are quite bullish on the future of data center services and cloud service providers in Phoenix. Though there are enough different entities to keep pricing competitive, there's also enough demand to allow all of the dedicated players to thrive. And from past commercial interactions, we can be almost certain that the assets and space of any data center company who falters will be rapidly acquired by one of the bigger players in the marketplace. Building up the technical capacity that will ensure smooth upscaling for PaaS and SaaS clients is going to be critical over the next three to four years. That means pushing the automation of on-demand services right to the limit, and provisioning for more ad-hoc expansion than data centers have traditionally done in the past.

Why hyperscale data centers in Australia forecast global industry growth This is an episode of HawkTalk, datacenterHawk's series of candid one on one conversations with executives and leaders in the data center industry. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check them all out on our blog. If you'd like to know when we release future episodes, you can subscribe here. James Veness is the Head of Portfolio for Data Centers with Fujitsu Australia, and the work he's doing is just one example of how the global infrastructure of hyperscale data centers only continues to grow. As we've shared before, according to Infiniti Research, the global data center market is anticipated to grow by over $270 billion between 2020-2024. If Veness is a case study in anything it's that these projections seem more than fair as the reach of data centers expands across various countries and continents. Veness manages a portfolio of six different data centers across Australia. His portfolio is one of Fujitsu Australia's seven portfolios made up of over 100 data centers in Japan, the U.K., and Singapore. Their flagship site in Western Sydney, a popular location for computer farms, is a very large hyperscale site that is now up to 90 megawatts, and it is there alongside a secondary site that is up to 30 megawatts. Per our research, Northern Virginia, Northern California, Phoenix, Dallas, and Chicago have all seen hyperscale development and leasing. But clearly, these types of data centers are continuing to show up all over the globe, and this growth is changing the entire data center landscape. As Veness shares on this latest HawkTalk, it was only a few years ago when you would build a single data center that would focus on every customer—hyperscale, wholesale, retail, etc. But what's changed over the last few years is that different customers now have different requirements. That includes design, build, scale, speed, security, efficiency, connectivity, and everything in between. All these factors vary depending on the type of customer. Providers such as Fujitsu and others are now building for one specific market, and with all this intensely focused building, we're seeing a wave of growth in individual markets. Sydney has now become a very mature market, and with well over 500 megawatts of load, it's growing exponentially. Sydney also has three distinct zones within the data center market—Southeast zone, North zone, and West zone—that make it quite an important regional footprint. This growth then ripples across the rest of the continent into Melbourne, and especially Perth, with the upgraded infrastructure coming in that wasn't there a few years ago. Factor in things like Australia being one of the first countries on the planet to see the sun every day, as well as being a relatively safe and stable political environment, and it's clear why companies view it as an attractive place to build. With the growth of hyperscale data centers in North America, Europe, Asia, and now Australia, combined with the increased demands from Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, and the like, the world is looking at more and more development of these types of centers. This will raise questions regarding supply and demand, as well as sustainability and other issues. People like Veness and companies like Fujitsu are simply forebearers of a future full of data centers. We're excited to watch the growth of data center markets in Asia Pacific. If you need additional data to guide your decisions in Asia Pacific, then you can request access to our upcoming data center market reports on Singapore, Hong Kong, and Sydney.

The Spectrum of Hyperscale Data Centers Tim puts hyperscale users on a spectrum: on one end there are first-party applications driving data center demand, and on the other end are third parties driving demand. What that means is that if a data center is providing cloud services — meaning that it has customers who are external to the business — it's on the end where a third party is driving demand. Alternatively, if internal applications are primarily driving demand, then that's on the other end of the spectrum. Tim explains that understanding which end of the spectrum the hyperscale center is on determines the ability to predict future demand. With first-party applications driving data center demand, someone can actually look at data points like usage rates and historic statistics to understand how the application works and grows and gain insights that help improve performance. On the other hand, third-party applications can come with demands that data centers aren't currently aware of. They can be running smoothly one day, but then instantaneously speed up and need more capacity the next day for reasons no one could've anticipated. Providing Flexibility and Speed Understanding this reality and preparing to meet the different demands of different hyperscale data centers is what makes Tim and his team so effective. Because they can look at the specific needs of each data center and clarify whether they're operating in a predictable or unpredictable environment, they can plan accordingly — or at least they can know when they're in a position where any plan might need to get thrown out the window. This situation demands flexibility from all involved. Some data centers may have extreme clarity in what drives their demand, making for fewer last-minute changes. But data centers that rely on third parties have to expect that demand may vary, and they may not be able to see that change in demand coming. Hence, flexibility is key and maintaining an emphasis on speed is crucial. It's no secret that data center growth has continued to skyrocket over the last five to ten years (1Q 2021 has shown yet another period of growth across the globe). And with that growth comes an increase in the need to have a team that can handle the speed of expansion. Yet, not all hyperscale centers are capable of growing as quickly as they want to with the current size team that they have. That's where someone like Tim comes in. One of his goals is to buttress the existing internal self-perform capacity of hyperscale centers with an external team that can help carry the weight. Whether the gap is in construction, sales, marketing, or something else, Tim and his team are always looking to step in and fill whatever roles are needed to facilitate the rapid expansion of hyperscale centers and their capacity. While more hands on deck may help a ship sail faster, there's still an issue of certainty. A hyperscale center may be excited to have someone like Tim and his team to help, but they still have to ask: Can we trust where we're going, and do we know if we're going to get there? As Tim shares, understanding the different needs of different hyperscale clients is crucial to serving them in the most efficient and effective manner. Walking into a project with eyes wide open, understanding the overall market, and intuiting the individual needs of different data centers are three invaluable traits that make someone like Tim, and anyone else like him, poised for success.

Our talk with Bruce Lehrman about Involta's business strategy contained some interesting details and pearls of wisdom. They discussed getting involved early in emerging markets, what it takes to open up a world-class data center in a new location, and what verticals have shown the most interest in Involta's services. Surprisingly, it was often the healthcare industry that became early adopters of these new data center locations. Lehrman said that a lot of the companies he's worked with have been ‘really focused on network latency from their core data centers and backup facilities to their primary hospitals and clinics. Given that some of these markets are off the beaten path, and healthcare infrastructure is often quite dated, these companies jump at the opportunity to upgrade their network capabilities. The Rewards of Hosting Healthcare Lehrman mentioned a positive aspect of hosting healthcare providers: The ability to forge a long-term partnership. Sure, the initial qualification and setup might be more painful than some other clients. But once that's done, you may very well have a client for life. Once healthcare organizations have tech that works and that meets or exceeds their needs, they're loath to move off of it. And on the flip side of the coin, once a HIPAA Business Associate establishes a friendly set of standards for one healthcare organization, it can be tweaked and applied to future partnerships in that vertical, all across the country. The first time is always the hardest. But that effort need not be duplicated for every new healthcare client. A second reward is community. Lehrman has set up advisory boards for hosting healthcare providers, made up of customers and non-customers alike. He uses these roundtables to keep abreast of the market and the upcoming needs and expectations of the industry. It's not only a valuable feedback tool, but getting back to each individual about their concerns and feedback forms a connection… current customers become more trusting customers, and non-customers might have a reason to do business with someone they trust in the future. These benefits can lead to larger opportunities. Once one metropolitan area is taken care of, there's a distinct possibility that the parent company will ask about opening small data centers in other parts of the country. That's because healthcare providers, more and more often, are interested in a different kind of hosting model. They're looking out towards the edge. Living on the Edge ‘The edge' should also not be confused with simple mirroring, load balancing, or redundancy operations. Although aspects of these things might be included in edge architecture, they aren't the whole picture. The edge is about decentralizing a data center. If a healthcare provider is dealing with highly latency-sensitive operations, such as remote laparoscopic surgery, they don't want to go through a bunch of hoops to get to their destination. So providers find locations where they can host the client's hardware and software as close to their demarcation point as possible. Alternatively, they set up shop at a low latency location somewhere between a healthcare organization's headquarters and their metropolitan branch. Either way, the goal is to be as close to the ‘edge' of the involved private networks as possible. This can mean more geographic expansion, more location scouting, and more time dedicated to clients when you're hosting healthcare operations. But it can also mean establishing footholds in markets that the hosting provider can later expand further if there's a demand. Lehrman mentioned that he's seeing a big move towards decentralization, and within the next ten years quite a few medium to large-sized enterprises will fully take on edge networking. Involta is constantly looking at new tools and capabilities that will allow them to be as flexible as the client needs them to be.

Why Dallas Continues to Be An Attractive Market One of Flexential's biggest markets is the Dallas data center market. Flexential has experienced continual growth in Dallas and their customers find this market attractive for their IT infrastructure. As Downie acknowledges, Dallas has been a destination market for enterprises for a decade or more and he feels fortunate to have participated in that. Still, there were questions as to whether or not Dallas was oversupplied and if this would lead to price compression. That being said, it seems that the Dallas supply is always consumed and Downie believes that we're currently seeing a continuation of this fact. “I think there's clearly been a change in product profile in Dallas in terms of what's being built and some folks in the industry are solving for the very large-scale, multi-megawatt deployments and that just drives a price that, in comparison to history, would be considered compressed. But there's still a significant amount of enterprise”. Specifically, Downie believes that the large retail and medium retail that's going on in the Dallas data center market has remained consistently strong. Downie also acknowledges that another reason that Dallas is such an attractive market is that it has inexpensive land and power, along with the fact that the city offers tax benefits that are business-friendly. These factors have driven large-scale enterprise into the market in recent years. Further, from a network density perspective, Dallas is well-situated. Downie states that it is all of these various factors that continue to make him optimistic about continuing to operate in the Dallas data center market. What Types of Companies Favor the Dallas Data Center Market? While Dallas is an attractive market in various ways, there tend to be a few types of companies that favor the current market found there. For example, technology companies, insurance companies, and financial companies fit the enterprise user base that data center companies like Flexential have the ability to attract. Downie remarks on the fact that companies within these industries are those that have been both early and long-tenured consumers of what companies like his deliver. Flexential's Potential Growth in the Dallas Data Center Market in 2021 As Flexential comes out of a difficult year in 2020, Downie remarks on the fact that, just as is the case in any year, his company will come out stronger in its ability to deliver a high-quality value proposition to their customers. For this reason, he expects 2021 to be an exciting year for the Dallas data center market. “A lot of the things that we were able to accomplish in 2020 position us well.” In the second quarter of 2021, Flexential will be opening up its largest data center ever in Hillsborough. This speaks to Flexential's focus on continuing to drive the scale of its platform and its relevance for national-use cases. Further, Flexential's Dallas expansion is an exciting prospect for much the same reason. “We're very focused in 2021 on continuing to drive the evolution of the customer experience,” Downie says. He also says that it is a primary focus of Flexential to evolve its portal, something that is a differentiator for their existing customers. Finally, Downie says that they want to make sure that they're focusing on building automation into the network platforms and remarks on the power of the FlexAnywhere Network in its ability to connect all of Flexential's facilities together, making consumption easier than ever. It is exciting to watch Flexential's growth and it seems that there are some potentially revolutionary things in the works for 2021!

From a data center perspective, whenever we approach the end of a quarter, there is always a lot of exciting data to review and trends to discuss. Today, we will be discussing all of the major European data center market highlights for 1Q 2021. We'll also briefly touch upon the condition of the market at the end of 2020 so that we can better understand how the previous year played a role in launching us into the position we find ourselves in today. The European Data Center Market in 2020 2020 was a challenging year across various industries, the data center industry included. That being said, although 2020 was a year fraught with obstacles, it proved to be one of the strongest years that the data center industry has seen in recent memory - not only in terms of absorption but also in regards to the European data center market. When speaking to operators, it seems like the legal process of closing such deals took much longer than anyone anticipated. That being said, when taking into account the deals that should have been closed in 2020 and will now be closed in 2021 (as well as the deals already scheduled to close in 2021), the year ahead is shaping up to be potentially as good as 2020. Observable Challenges in Delivering Supply In 2020, there were observable challenges in delivering supply not only to primary European data center markets such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam, or London, but also to secondary markets. In the face of these challenges, we even witnessed demand transfer to other markets because of the lack of supply. This is largely an issue of providers pre-leasing capacity before it has been built due to the desire to remain in key markets. We have also observed development in tier 2 markets like Berlin and Zurich. These areas are not only taking capacity away from primary markets like Frankfurt but are also considered to be add-ons to those two markets. The power availability in some of the top European data center markets appears to be difficult to come by, as does the availability of appropriately priced land assets. This has resulted in developments outside of the traditional development zones. Anticipated Next Markets Another big trend that we've seen in the European data center market in 1Q 2021 is a dual strategy utilized by companies not only to lease large amounts of capacity but also to own and build it themselves. There has been an observable amount of anticipation surrounding where the next big markets will be located. In 1Q 2021, there seemed to be large amounts of speculation surrounding appropriate landmasses in tier 2 markets. Additionally, the competition for tier 2 markets seems to be potentially less than it is in tier 1 markets. Overall, the growth of the tier 2 markets has been anticipated. At datacenterHawk, we're interested to see how the absorption rate of European data center markets in 2021 will impact 2022, as well as whether or not that demand continues or simply levels off for a period of time. Regulatory Environments in the European Data Center Market In some countries within the European data center market, we've seen significant growth. In others, however, we have observed a slow down of sorts because of changes made related to power or, perhaps, data sovereignty. From the European perspective, there is a huge push to lessen carbon emissions and reduce the impact on climate change. Overall, the last year has increased the profile for the sector. People have been astoundingly grateful for digital infrastructure and its ability to allow society to push forward in the wake of a pandemic fairly unencumbered. If you would like to dive deeper into 1Q 2021 North American and European data center data, click below to request access to Hawk Insight: https://www.datacenterhawk.com/request?feature=insightMarket&market=1Q21%20Hawk%20Insight

1Q 2021 Data Center Market Highlights: What We've Noticed and What to Expect With the first quarter of 2021 now complete and the second quarter of the year being well underway, datacenterHawk will be taking a look back over the key data center market highlights of 1Q 2021. Here, we'll be discussing our top takeaways from the quarter, as well as touching upon our expectations for the second. Overall, while 2020 was one of the strongest demand years in the industry, the remaining market fundamentals in 2021 seem to be robust. Consistent Hyperscale Demand With 2020 being one of the largest growth periods in the history of the data center industry, many wondered just what the first quarter of 2021 would look like. What we quickly realized is that the expansion of hyperscale users- not just in the United States but in Europe and Asia- would continue to grow. While quarter one of 2021 didn't see quite as much hyperscale demand in comparison to the previous quarter, demand was still consistent and stable. As we look to the remainder of 2021, we expect to see the continuation of a dual strategy from hyperscale companies who are looking to lease and own their data center portfolio. The Resurgence of Enterprise Demand Another key highlight that we can take away from Q1 of 2021 in the data center market is the resurgence of enterprise demand. While you could argue that this is a market by market trend, we view it as being a fairly holistic change. When COVID first hit, things went pretty quiet on this front. Now, there appears to be more RFPs in the data center market for requirements within a particular size range. This is an especially encouraging sign in terms of the beginning of 2021 and leaves us optimistic for enterprise demand to continue to grow throughout the remainder of the year. Key Changes in the North American Data Center Market Northern Virginia– Once again, Northern Virginia led North America's data markets in terms of absorption. One particular change that leaves us feeling optimistic for the growth of this sector is the continuing growth of interest in locations like Manassas, Gainesville, and Leesburg. While most of this area's demand has historically been placed on Loudoun county, we now see that demand expanding to the surrounding municipalities. Phoenix– Phoenix is a particularly interesting data center market in North America for a variety of reasons. In the minds of most, Phoenix can be divided into five different areas: the center of Phoenix, Chandler, Mesa, north of Downtown, and Goodyear. Some of the main advantages that can be found in Phoenix are reasonable costs, a competitive market, and the area's unique ability to scale over time. While there are other markets with similar characteristics, Phoenix is unique in that its market has been validated by the big cloud providers. In terms of Q1 of 2021, demand was greater in Phoenix than the previous three quarters combined. This unevenness in demand highlights the “lumpiness” that is commonplace across the data center industry. Due to hyperscale users focused on maturing their portfolio in Phoenix, the area also experienced a significant uptick in leasing in the first quarter of 2021. With many in the industry seeing the potential for Phoenix to grow to be as robust as the Northern Virginia market, Q1 of 2021 certainly encourages such predictions for years down the road. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the data center industry! – https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/stay-up-to-date

Understanding the challenges data center customers face is the first step toward providing them with a good solution. When Nicholas Laag, CEO and Managing Director of Prime Data Centers, was preparing to open new data center facilities in Sacramento and Santa Clara, his primary focus was on the end-user. The varying needs and demands customers have—from hybrid migration to combining the cloud with their own onboarding—make it crucial for data centers to be able to provide multiple solutions to the people they serve. This mindset makes it possible for data centers to look less like products and more like partnerships. Understanding both the customer's needs and the ways the data center can create a solution is the best way to create a healthy relationship between providers and users. Past behaviors won't solve future problems Even as recent as ten years ago, data center operators were more likely to focus on the efficiency of the build, only thinking of how the project best worked within their needs and their capabilities. Now, however, it's more about the operator working in tandem with the customer. That's why Laag and his team focus on providing a dynamic environment that can provide adaptable solutions. For example, the Prime Data Center in Sacramento—which was chosen as a more cost-effective location to the Bay Area—was designed specifically with the idea of expansion in mind. Laag shares how at this location they have the opportunity to be 100% green, with the cost of power being significantly less than the Bay (and even less than Santa Clara). They also built this campus on a zone that allows them to have their own substation, which has 50 MVA of available power, as well as room for expansion. This allows them to work long-term with companies who may themselves be growing. Building the site on property with room to grow means now that the location is fully leased, they have the ability to increase the footprint and density by 33%. Instead of providing six megawatts per the original design, they're now able to deliver eight megawatts to the customer. As Laag describes, “If you're not on point in terms of delivery speeds and design flexibility, you will be funneled into a small number of customers.” Having the ability to serve the different needs customers come up with will quickly separate the data center providers who are continuing with antiquated practices from those who are focused on adapting innovative and creative solutions. The COVID effect and looking ahead It's no secret that the need for creative solutions stems, at least in part, from the increased demands on data centers as a result of COVID-19. Laag believes, however, that COVID is unlikely to have an exponential effect on the fundamentals of the industry. Across the world, data centers have seen an increase in demand, much of which comes from mobile work and remote offices. The pandemic has certainly accelerated the need for and use of mobile work technology that has been available, and it's reasonable to assume some of these practices will remain. It's the role of data center providers to understand this positive bump in data usage isn't something to be counted on in terms of a business model. This again points to the competitive advantage flexibility provides. Being able to meet the heightened demands of customers during COVID-19 has been a real benefit to many data centers, but those who are prepared for a return to normalcy following the distribution of vaccines are best poised to maintain their current and new customers. As Laag shares, “You need two sides to dance.” Some customers are experiencing remarkable growth and their data center providers need to be prepared to grow with them. Yet, at the same time, when the growth wanes, these same providers need to be prepared to move in tandem with their customers.

Roger Süess of Green fills us in on the current state of the Zurich data center market in Switzerland, how it's developed into what it is today. Check out our video above with Roger Süess of Green to get his take on the Zurich data center market. If you're short on time, check out the summary of the conversation below. The Current State of Green Green's current footprint in Zurich consists of 4 separate locations, 2 of which are large campuses focused on meeting the needs of hyperscale clients. Their other locations also serve hyperscale users, but provide space for traditional colocation use as well, and aim to be an IT solution for businesses wanting to enter into the Zurich market. Looking ahead, Green is planning on expanding their presence in Zurich with an additional 2-4 facilities in the city. The Development of the Zurich Data Center Market It's clear that the Zurich market has been an area of data center growth over recent years. Robert mentions that people see this growth from major data center providers, such as Green, and show concern for potential overcapacity issues. He says that this is a valid concern but he looks at how the data center industry has changed over time and feels confident about the future use and growth of data centers. For a long time, many small to medium-sized businesses owned their own 4-5 MW facilities but recently that has shifted to these same businesses utilizing their IT needs from a data center provider. The data center trends that Green is seeing suggest that there will continue to be a need for additional space and power to come from a data center provider instead of smaller businesses owning their own IT space. Also, that's without looking at the continued IT needs from the larger hyperscale users. With both of these trends, it's a safe assumption that having an overcapacity issue will be minimal. We at datacenterHawk have recently started tracking the Zurich data center market. If you would like access to our data and analysis, you can request it here: https://www.datacenterhawk.com/request?feature=insightMarket&market=Zurich Or you can subscribe to our newsletter for general updates on the data center industry here: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/stay-up-to-date

SkyBox Datacenters has had opportunities to grow in the past 2 years and only look to continue that trend moving forward. Rob Morris took some time to sit down and give datacenterHawk an update on how SkyBox has grown since we last caught up with him 2 years ago. Below are some of the topics we dove into during our discussion. Growth in the Houston and Dallas markets Since we last spoke with Rob, SkyBox has continued to expand in both Houston and Dallas. On their Houston campus, they've built several high-density, high power compute projects to bring their facilities to near full capacity. In Dallas, Skybox delivered their last building back in 2018 and decided to watch the market. They kept about 50 acres of land open for a potential build-to-suit opportunity and plan to expand in the market within the next 2-3 years. Opportunity in the midst of the pandemic In March 2020 when Northern America was hit with stay-at-home orders, there was a lot of pain felt throughout the nation. The data center industry is one area that was uniquely put into a position of opportunity and growth. With a vast amount of people suddenly spending more time at home, they turned to the internet to connect with others, which meant more data that needed a data center to live in. Plans for future growth Skybox is planning to expand in 2021, starting with a brand new campus in Elk Grove Village, a high-volume area for data center providers serving the Chicago market. Their first facility, which is currently in shell state, is slated to deliver 190,000 SF and 30 MW once completed in October of 2021. Looking forward We're excited to see where SkyBox will go and the growth that's in store for them moving forward. We'll continue to track them and other data center providers on our platform in 2021 and beyond. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the data center industry.

Below we'll lay out exactly how we do it at datacenterHawk. At the end of this article, you'll be able to take our approach and put it to use to help you succeed in your new role. What Data Center Market Research Can Do For You For some, data center market research might be a bit of an ill-defined, fuzzy term. Put simply, market research helps people understand how a certain product or industry is performing. Data center market research can help answer questions like: How much are people selling? How much are people buying? What price are they paying? What trends should I care about to help me make better decisions? Where should I take my business next to give me the best chance of success? Gathering Data You can find data from lots of different sources. Start with information from data center provider websites. They'll typically list the facilities they operate, where they are, their capacity, and other infrastructure details. Brokerage reports from companies like CBRE or Cushman Wakefield are also great sources of market data. There are also data center market research firms dedicated to providing data and analysis. Many firms offer purchasable reports that they produce on a yearly cadence. Other companies have built online platforms that are easy to use and are constantly updated with real-time data. This is what we're continuing to build at datacenterHawk. There's nothing wrong with using good old Google to find out what's going on. Frequently there will be press releases or announcements whenever a provider is expanding a facility or campus. You can also find announcements across social media. Standardizing the Data As you research capacity data, you'll want to be pressure testing each data point as it comes in. For example, it's fairly easy to find press releases about a provider adding a MW to a specific data center. But having 1 MW commissioned or available right now is very different than it being under construction or even just planned. Frequently this portion of the announcement is left off and you need to do some additional digging to figure out what they're really saying. We recommend you only count commissioned and available power for the most accurate view of the market like we do at datacenterHawk. Verifying the Data As you piece together your market data, you'll also want to pressure test how reliable the data is. Some firms will extrapolate their numbers with a top-down approach. This means they gather a few sample data points and assume the rest of the market shapes up along the same lines as their sample data. This is great for getting a quick read on the market but isn't as bulletproof as a bottoms-up approach. With a bottoms-up approach, you go facility by facility in every market and roll up those capacity figures to the national level. This takes a lot more time than going top-down but it's much more reliable. At datacenterHawk we take the bottoms-up approach to building our market calculations and we do it that way each and every quarter. Just Talk to People Some data just isn't on the internet. It takes going to conferences, traveling to see people, and helping everyone you talk to along the way. The great part about this is you get to build deep relationships with the people in the space. We've even had lots of them on our podcast to talk about what's transpiring in the industry. If you're new, we'd love to talk to you too and see what we can do to point you in the right direction. You can also subscribe to our monthly update to get more great content like this along with hard data on the market.

Matthew Madden of DXN Limited talks about the state of Australian data centers and how they use autonomous mining vehicles to grow the IT industry with the edge. This is an episode of HawkTalk, datacenterHawk's series of candid one on one conversations with executives and leaders in the data center industry. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check them all out on our blog. If you'd like to know when we release future episodes, you can subscribe here. Check out our video above with Matthew Madden of DXN Solutions to get his take on the Australian data center industry. If you're short on time, check out the summary of the conversation below. Australian data center demand from international cloud providers When COVID became a global issue and a large portion of people began working remotely, they suddenly depended on the support of major North American cloud providers to conduct their virtual business. This sudden uptick in use caused these cloud providers to urgently fill the capacity that had been built in the Australian markets, so that they could provide the support to all the people now working from home. DXN is reducing latency in Australia with edge data centers Sydney is the largest city and the largest data center market in Australia. With that, the further users are from Sydney, which is on the southeast coast of the continent, the more latency they'll have. DXN has focused their efforts on an edge strategy to get the data centers closer to the users with the goal of lowering that latency gap. Autonomous Vehicles Utilizing Edge Data Centers One area DXN has seen success with their edge data centers is supporting autonomous vehicles in the iron ore mines of Australia. DXN has seen the growth of autonomous vehicle technology in Australia, where that technology is used in the iron ore mines. Trucks and excavators in these mines are mostly operated remotely and to do that, a data center needs to be nearby so the latency is as low as possible. Seeing this need, DXN stepped in to offer their edge data center solution so their data centers could be placed close to the mines for these autonomous and remote-controlled pieces of mining equipment. Tracking DXN and the rest of the APAC market As we at datacenterHawk are excited as we continue to grow and expand our global data center industry information, we look forward to tracking DXN, the Australian data center markets, and the future growth of the APAC region. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the data center industry.

Michael Chan of OneAsia fills us in on the current state of data center markets in Asia Pacific, along with where the latest activity is moving. This is an episode of HawkTalk, datacenterHawk's series of candid one on one conversations with executives and leaders in the data center industry. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check them all out on our blog. If you'd like to know when we release future episodes, you can subscribe here. Check out our video above with Michael Chan of OneAsia to get his take on the state of the Asia data center markets. If you're short on time, check out the summary of the conversation below. OneAsia's Presence in the APAC market OneAsia offers a full range of services including colocation, cloud, and connectivity in multiple markets across the Asia Pacific market. They currently have data center facilities in Hong Kong, Shanghai, NanTong, Singapore, and have plans for additional facilities in Thailand, South Korea, and Japan. Demand in the APAC markets OneAsia is experiencing demand from North American, European based customers but not surprisingly their most prominent demand is from Asian, specifically Chinese, based customers. These customers are from a wide variety of industries, including banking & finance, internet service providers, cloud solution providers, & various online business providers. Growth of newer APAC markets Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other major markets in APAC are reaching their growth potential in terms of data center space. Because of this, among other reasons, there has been an increase in activity in other markets with smaller data center footprints such as Vietnam, Malaysia, & Thailand. Part of OneAsia's strategy moving forward is to be a pioneer and expand into these smaller markets quite rapidly moving forward. As we at datacenterHawk continue to grow and expand our global data center industry information, we look forward to tracking OneAsia and their future growth. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the data center industry.

We sat down with Digital Realty CFO Andy Power and Giuliano Di Vitantonio, EVP of Strategy & Business Segments, to get their take on recent European data center market growth. Check out our episode above with Andy Power and Giuliano Di Vitantonio of Digital Realty to get their take on the state of the European markets. Or if you're short on time, check out the summary of the conversation below. Secondary European markets experiencing healthy growth When evaluating demand patterns in European data center markets, it's usually a safe bet to analyze trends in North America because those changes typically follow in Europe 18-24 months later. Initially these trends start in the FLAPD markets and then cascade into the secondary markets across Europe. The largest trend the European markets have seen over the past 6-7 years has been the demand growth from hyperscale users. Starting in 2014, hyperscale users began to establish their presence in the FLAPD markets and now we're seeing those users want to get closer to their end-users. Data sovereignty and improving the customer experience are the two main reasons hyperscale users are expanding in Europe which is why we've seen growth in markets like Madrid, Zurich, Stockholm, and Vienna. Increasing emphasis on global maturity As the data center industry continues to mature markets in North America continue to grow. But recently other markets around the globe, specifically in Europe, have been growing at a faster rate than the larger North American markets. One reason for this is the US-based multinational hyperscale companies wanting to expand and ramp up their growth closer to their international users. The tech divide between North America and Europe The US has consistently had a lower GDP than Europe by more than 100%. But because the US has been an early adopter and investor in the tech space, Europe's tech spend has been about 75% of that in the states. To take that even further and more specific to data centers, Europe has invested about 50% of what the US has on data centers and IT infrastructure. These figures indicate there is still room for growth in the European data center industry. Which is another reason the growth in the European markets has been at a higher percentage rate than the US growth recently. We'll continue to track Digital Realty as they continue to grow across the globe. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the data center industry.

It's a game that's won and lost on speed. The faster information can be delivered from a data center, the more valuable the data center can be to people outside its four walls. Customers Don't Like Slow Delivery Times Imagine you run a logistics company. The success of your business depends on how quickly you deliver packages. As your operation grows, you build warehouses to swap packages on and off trucks that are going to different areas. Sometimes trucks have to stop at multiple warehouses to get everything they need to take to their destination. Ideally, your trucks can take interstate freeways directly to each warehouse instead of slogging through dense downtown traffic or winding through miles of dirt farm roads. Fast roads directly to a warehouse are better than slow roads that require a roundabout route. Traveling on slower roads or taking roundabout routes ultimately compounds into slower delivery times. Customers don't like slow delivery times. This is what data center connectivity is all about. You probably caught on that the warehouses in our example are data centers. The packages are information. The roads are the connectivity, the focus of this article. The data center industry is usually accomplished via fiber optic cable lines. And just like the roads, if we want to get traffic where it needs to be as quickly as possible, it's better to use the fastest, lowest traffic, and most direct route possible. We'll still need to make stops every now and again to pick up packages or data, but the concept remains the same. The Importance of Connectivity In simpler days of the internet, one computer would talk directly to another and get everything it needed. And a delay of several milliseconds would not cause an issue. Today, companies are using increasingly complex systems to support their customers' needs. It's not uncommon for a company to spread their IT workload between cloud, colocation, and in-house. Within those buckets, they may have a multitude of microservices spread across different servers. As the number of points of communication increases, so does the importance of keeping those communications as fast as possible. From a user experience perspective, all this operational speed is typically taken for granted, until something goes wrong. In terms of user experience, human factor studies have consistently shown over 30 years that delays of 1 second interrupt the user's flow of thought while delays of more than 10 seconds loses their attention. Users consistently bemoan the slow speeds of websites and apps. In the earlier days of the internet, it was understood that as companies were growing there would be some hiccups. Twitter's fail whale, which indicated a service outage, even became a cultural icon. However today, as consumer choices on the internet proliferate, a slow load will ultimately become a no-load as customers go elsewhere. All the more reason to focus on speed.

In Podcast 40, we continue our Data Center Fundamentals series and dive into the basics of data center location. Why is the location of a data center important? We go through at all the reasons data center professionals need to know about the location of a data center. Economics Data centers are exponentially more expensive than other types of real estate, and the economic considerations have ramifications on all data center projects. Power cost is one of the most important factors when choosing a data center location as it can constitute up to 20% of the total cost of colocation. The cost of power can vary widely from region to region. Areas like Quincy or Montreal are $0.02-0.03 per kilowatt-hour, while locations in the Northeast US can be up to $0.15-0.16/kWh. For larger colocation providers and hyperscale companies who are building entire campuses, land availability and cost needs to be accounted for. In markets like Dallas and Phoenix, there is virtually unlimited land in every direction. In markets like Northern California, Northern Virginia, or Chicago, natural barriers like bodies of water or heightened demand make land acquisition more difficult. The market's climate can impact the cost as well. In cooler markets, you can use the cool air outside to cool servers instead of air conditioning units. This can help keep power consumption costs down. In warmer markets, summers can have higher power costs due to peaks in demand. Most states offer tax incentives tailored to data center development in order to attract end-users. Larger data center investments can be eligible for tax credits based on the total development investment or receive exemptions from sales tax on equipment. A market's competitive landscape and demand profile also impact lease rates. Heavy competition and/or an oversupply in a market may lower the amount data center providers can charge. This is what we're seeing in the Dallas and Chicago data center markets right now. Conversely, a smaller number of operators or lower supply in a market can enable providers to charge a higher rate. Hazards A data center's location can also be influenced by geographical hazards. Natural hazards like earthquakes or hurricanes are important to consider when performing a site evaluation. Markets like Phoenix and Chicago are relatively safe from natural hazards. New Orleans and Orlando are examples of markets that have historically deterred data center development. Even with natural hazards, some markets are so strategic that providers build there anyway. In order to do so, they may need to make a larger investment to beef up the building's physical infrastructure. For example, Northern California, Los Angeles, and Seattle are areas of high seismic risk but are also three areas of substantial data center investment. To account for natural hazards, data centers can be designed to absorb earthquake vibrations or withstand winds of 150+ mph. Man-made hazards also have an influence on a data center's location within a market. The proximity to railroads, highways, airports, and nuclear power plants are often considered when selecting a data center location.

The European data center industry is full of growth and change. The increased demand from COVID-19 and individual European countries are at the forefront of that growth. Hear what EdgeConneX CMO, Phillip Marangella, has to say about it. This is an episode of HawkTalk, datacenterHawk's series of candid one on one conversations with executives and leaders in the data center industry. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check them all out on our blog. If you'd like to know when we release future episodes, you can subscribe here. Below are some of our takeaways from the discussion. COVID-19 increased data center demand as traffic moved from offices to homes The COVID pandemic caused major shifts in the world. Many industries are hurting due to these shifts, but the data center industry has seen an increase in demand. People are home more now than they were a year ago. Whether they're working from home, streaming tv shows, playing online video games, or anything else that requires an internet connection, homes are becoming the new edge in the data center industry. Opportunities are rising in secondary EU markets Building data centers in Europe can come with challenges like planning for long term scalable power. You need to be able to meet all of your customer's requirements as they continue to grow. Customer needs today are not what they will be in 5-10 years. Planning for expansion to meet needs in the future can be difficult to balance against the costs of building beyond the needs of today. There are still a lot of opportunities in the FLAPD (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, & Dublin) markets, but at the same time, there are a number of secondary markets that are beginning to have needs for data centers. That's why EdgeConneX decided to build in Warsaw & Munich and are continuing to track markets outside of the FLAPD markets. Expansion into APAC The APAC data center market is a rapidly growing part of the global data center industry and one that EdgeConnex is tracking for future expansion. Expansion into the APAC market requires smart strategic planning and is quite a different task than building in either North America or Europe. A good partner in Asia to help navigate the opportunities there is key to success. We'll continue to track EdgeConneX as they grow and expand into new markets. Be sure to subscribe to this channel to stay up to date on the data center industry.

This is an episode of HawkPodcast, datacenterHawk's viewpoints on the data center industry. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check them all out on our blog. If you'd like to know when we release future episodes, please subscribe. The main takeaways from 4Q 2020 2020 ended up being a year filled with events that no one expected. These unexpected challenges led to record demand in the data center industry. The fourth quarter wrapped up one of the largest growth years for the industry. Five of the top ten markets in North America (Dallas, Phoenix, Northern California, Northern Virginia, Northern New Jersey) had their largest growth year since datacenterHawk began tracking them. Two other top ten markets (Atlanta, Chicago) had their second best year ever and it came close to their best. Growth in Frankfurt and other European markets The Frankfurt data center market has taken a front seat it comes to the growth in the European markets for a few reasons. While London is still the largest market, Frankfurt has outpaced London's growth in recent quarters. Frankfurt's growth is due to its maturity as a market, its high degree of connectivity and the ability for developers to secure land and power. Market maturity means there are enough companies who have an established footprint in a geography that new entrants are more willing to grow their based on the experience of others who have gone before them. As connectivity becomes a larger factor in making colocation decisions, the fact that Frankfurt is highly connected adds to the appeal. Finally, developers in Frankfurt -and Germany as a whole- have been able to procure land and power more quickly than in other European markets. This “speed-to-market” ability is an advantage when it comes to landing large data center requirements. It's not that the other major European markets aren't growing, it's that data center providers have put a lot of their focus in Frankfurt and have shown others how they can grow there. Amidst growth, rates have gone down Over the past 5-10 years, the data center industry has experienced increased demand all over the world, and yet we've seen a compression of rates. This is counterintuitive in the real estate world, but when you look at it over time, it makes sense. We're still in a young stage of the data center industry. 10 years ago, rates were higher because there may have only been one or two data center providers in a market, which meant there was little to no competition. Increased presence in major markets by multiple operators has resulted in lower rates. Another reason for the lower rates is that the product has continued to become more efficient, which has driven costs (and the associated rental rates) down. As innovations continue and providers incorporate customer feedback so they are not developing unwanted facility features, rates will continue to compress. Don't forget to check out the rest of our HawkPodcasts and don't miss out on our latest release of market data for the data center industry.

We take a moment to review some of the questions our listeners have asked about the data center industry. Below are some of the topics and questions we cover in the above video. This is an episode of HawkPodcast, datacenterHawk's viewpoints on the data center industry. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check them all out on our blog. If you'd like to know when we release future episodes, you can subscribe to our channel. 0:00 - Intro 1:20 - Pros and cons of floating data centers. 4:51 - How increasing rack density is changing data center development and sales. 7:35 - Microsoft's recent announcement of 3 cloud data centers in Athens, Greece. 8:53 - Data center staffing from an IT standpoint. 10:55 - What is the advantage of doing business with a smaller data center (1-5MW) than big players with a 20-100MW+ capacity? How do smaller data centers attract big customers in order to grow? 13:11 - What is the breakdown between public/private companies with leasing? What is the main differentiator between public and private companies? Thank you for watching this video and you have a question about the data center industry, don't hesitate to reach out to us! You can comment on any of our YouTube videos, message us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/datacenterhawk), or email us directly at hello@datacenterhawk.com. If you enjoyed this and want to stay up to date with the latest information in the data center industry be sure to sign up for the datacenterHawk newsletter here: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/stay-up-to-date

Edge data centers continue to expand in Los Angeles as companies seek to keep latency low for their most demanding media customers This is an episode of HawkTalk, datacenterHawk's series of candid one on one conversations with executives and leaders in the data center industry. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check them all out on our blog. If you'd like to know when we release future episodes, you can subscribe here. Maile Kaiser took some time to sit down with us to discuss the Los Angeles data center market and how the data center industry has changed over time. Below are some of our takeaways from the discussion. The growth of the Los Angeles market While the Los Angeles data center market isn't one of the largest in the US, it has grown over the past few years. It's been viewed as a market for edge data centers and a strategic location for customers who need to have their data close to their end-users. But an increase in innovations in the digital technology industry has caused a rise in the need for edge compute, which is part of the reason for the growth in the market. The future of The Los Angeles market Across the data center industry, more companies are going digital than before due to covid - driving the need for more data centers. These companies are seeing technology advance and want to take the opportunity to mature their digital footprints and connect more with their users.  The Los Angeles market has become an area with more edge growth, and with a population of over 10 million people, Maile predicts that reducing latency will continue to be a critical goal for application providers moving forward. Data center industry growth Typically the data center industry has almost been invisible to the wider population. It would work in the background and give access to the applications and tools that everyone uses on a daily basis without anyone knowing that they're utilizing a data center. The pandemic seems to have brought more visibility to our industry. Technology stepped in to support people's everyday needs from work to healthcare to education, with data centers being a massive component to supporting these needs. Overall COVID-19 has caused more growth and attention on the data center industry and made larger edge markets, like Los Angeles, more important than ever for faster speeds. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the data center industry.

If you're short on time, below are some of our thoughts from the above video. 2021 Overview Based on the conversations we at datacenterHawk have had with people in the data center industry, we feel as though 2021 will be a solid year for the market. Ultimately a lot of the growth will depend on larger hyperscale deals being completed, but those companies are looking to add to their footprint all across Northern America and the world. The hyperscale companies that are going to be responsible for the majority of the growth in the industry are looking for flexible deals with data center operators. It's not just about turn-key capacity anymore. Powered shell and build-to-suit developments are becoming more common. We feel confident that the demand seen in 2020 will continue at least through the first half of 2021. The persistence of the impact of COVID19 as well as the continued growth of secular tailwinds already in place pre-COVID may drive demand through the entirety of 2021. Enterprise demand in 2021 In 2020, enterprise demand was a bit on the lower end than we expected. We think that it will increase in 2021 from where it was in 2020. Many companies delayed IT projects to focus on supporting their employees as they began to work from home. Additionally, financial constraints further constrained directors ability to get funds for IT projects. We believe that even if the COVID pandemic is not fully solved, it has at least stabilized such that these companies will look to reboot in 2021 and start working on previously-shelved IT projects. How will the edge grow in 2021 In 2020 we saw edge-focused partnerships between large data center operators and smaller companies, such as Flexential and American Tower, Digital Realty and Vapor IO, Switch and FedEx. While the edge is still very nascent, these partnerships point to the increasing focus it is becoming among large, traditionally core data center operators. These companies believe there will be a more spread out infrastructure approach with higher demand moving forward. We see these data center operators are positioning themselves to handle that demand when it comes. Expect additional operators to enhance their edge capabilities through new product development or acquisition in 2021. If you enjoyed this and want to stay up to date with the latest information in the data center industry be sure to sign up for the datacenterHawk newsletter here: https://lp.datacenterhawk.com/stay-up-to-date

DATA4 Group CEO, Olivier Micheli shares how they develop and expand into new markets, even in light of recent trends. This is an episode of HawkTalk, datacenterHawk's series of candid one on one conversations with executives and leaders in the data center industry. If you enjoyed this episode, you can check them all out on our blog. If you'd like to know when we release future episodes, you can subscribe here. DATA4 Group was founded in 2006 and has been a key player in the Paris and French data center markets ever since. After becoming a top data center provider in France, they decided to expand their circle to other European nations. Their CEO, Olivier Micheli, sits down with our lead European analyst to discuss the company and the markets that they're in. Below are some of our takeaways from the discussion. Growth of the Paris data center market One of the main drivers for the growth in the Paris data center market has been the hyperscale users. Larger users to want to grow in Paris because is there is some catch up happening. Recently other major markets in Europe, namely London, Amsterdam, & Frankfurt, have seen dynamic growth and the hyperscale users see Paris as a market with the same amount of opportunity as those. Developing in Italy, Spain, and Luxembourg Data4 Group has their eyes on expanding to new markets, but they prefer to follow a strategic path and be strong in the markets they're in before expanding to new areas. This is how they went about their expansion out of Paris. They stayed focused with a goal to become very strong in that market before moving to Italy, Spain, and Luxembourg. Now that they're in those markets, they want to stay focused in those areas until they are able to build a strong foundation before moving to their next markets. Looking towards Frankfurt Micheli talks about DATA4 Group's history and their strategy for getting into the markets they're in now, but he also mentions their future and where the company wants to go moving forward. Frankfurt is one market that's currently on their radar for its large stable economy and massive connectivity. But they want to follow the same expansion strategy they did the first time around focusing on becoming a top data center provider in their current markets before moving into new markets. It will be interesting to follow DATA4 Group as they continue to grow and we at datacenterHawk look forward to tracking with them and other providers in the European markets. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on the data center industry.

David Dunn, COO of H5 Data Centers, shares how they think about evaluating smaller markets and developing the next generation of talent for the data center industry. H5 Data Centers has a unique focus on edge data centers and bringing data to people rather than focusing so strongly on where the largest supply and demand is happening in the data center industry. COO, David Dunn sits down with datacenterHawk to discuss this strategy and the future of the industry. Below are some of our takeaways from the discussion. H5's big focus on smaller markets A lot of data center providers follow the strategy of finding land to buy in a major market and building a big brand new data center campus from the ground up. H5 takes somewhat of a different approach in their strategy. H5 has increased their focus on smaller data center markets such as Albuquerque, San Antonio, and Cleveland. While still having a presence in some of the larger markets, H5 takes pride in trying to find the markets that have untapped potential and growing in those areas. H5's approach to evaluating new markets While knowing the supply and demand of the data center markets is important and can be a main way to make decisions in the industry, H5 also looks at the population sizes of markets and the distance between two major cities to determine whether they want to be in a market. For example, Albuquerque is a city with a decent population size, but it's also hundreds of miles away from the next city that's comparable in size. This tells H5 that there are people in that area who will need and want to use data, and likely don't want to store it hundreds of miles away. Developing the next generation of data center professionals H5 takes a lot of pride in doing their part to move the industry forward. One way they do this is by helping educate the next generation about IT needs and the data center industry. They have made it a point to be involved in the STEM programs of local schools. They want to help create the future jobs in the industry and give kids who might not have had an opportunity to learn about the data center industry a chance and mentor them. datacenterHawk will continue to follow H5 Data Centers as they continue to on their paths of growth and we look forward to seeing the next steps that they take in the industry.