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2024

The volume of the global smart data center market for the year exceeded $60 billion

At the end of 2023, costs in the field of intelligent data centers (data centers) on a global scale reached $60.04 billion. For comparison, in 2022, the indicator was estimated at $55.39 billion. Thus, an increase of 8% was recorded, as stated in the Market Research Future review, published in mid-November 2024.

Smart data centers use advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to optimize power consumption, control cooling systems and allocate resources. This approach reduces operating costs and carbon footprint. With increasing regulatory pressure and increasing sustainability-focused corporate responsibility initiatives, companies are forced to adopt smart data center technologies to meet environmental standards.

The authors of the study highlight several key factors contributing to the rapid expansion of the global smart data center industry. One of them is the need to reduce energy costs as data center power increases due to the need to maintain resource-intensive AI loads and high-performance computing (HPC). The positive momentum also provides a shift towards cloud computing and ongoing digital transformation initiatives across industries. As organizations increasingly use cloud solutions to increase flexibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, the demand for intelligent data centers capable of supporting these technologies is growing.

In addition, technological advances and automation are important drivers. The introduction of new technologies such as edge computing and improved network solutions has redefined the data management paradigms, increasing the overall efficiency and performance of the data center. At the same time, AI-based automation tools provide real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and comprehensive workload management, significantly reducing downtime and maximizing resource utilization.

According to the smart data center deployment scheme, local, cloud and hybrid models stand out. The first of these segments in 2023 accounted for $24 billion. Cloud and hybrid platforms provided $18 billion each. From a geographical point of view, North America dominates, where costs at the end of 2023 are estimated at $22 billion: leadership is explained by advanced technological infrastructure and high demand for data processing systems. This is followed by the Asia-Pacific region with expenditures of $16 billion, and Europe closes the top three with $14 billion. The contribution of South America amounted to $4 billion, the Middle East and Africa - $4.04 billion. Key players in the industry in question are:

• IBM;
• Arista Networks;
• Oracle;
• Digital Realty;
• Equinix;
• Google Cloud;
• Dell Technologies;
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (НРЕ);
• Cisco;
• Alibaba Cloud;
• Amazon Web Services (AWS);
• Intel;
• VMware;
• Microsoft.

At the end of 2024, revenue in the segment of smart data centers is estimated at $65.08 billion. Market Research Future analysts believe that in the future, the CAGR will be 8.39%. As a result, by 2032, costs on a global scale could increase to $124 billion. It is noted that for companies, the introduction of intelligent technologies is becoming a critical area that ensures the preservation of a competitive advantage.^[1]

Which countries have the most data centers

As of the beginning of 2024, more than 10 thousand data centers (data centers) operated globally. Moreover, 86% of them were in a dozen leading countries, and more than half - in the United States. Such data are given in the materials of Visual Capitalist, published on October 30, 2024.

The demand for data center services continues to grow worldwide. This is due to the continued movement of workloads to the cloud: this model allows companies to save on their own IT infrastructure, purchase the necessary equipment and pay for the services of maintenance personnel. Instead of deploying local data centers, organizations are increasingly turning to combination sites. Another industry driver is artificial intelligence: training large language models (LLMs) with a huge amount of parameters and storing generated information requires significant resources. This gives rise to the need to build additional data centers. In addition, digital transformation requires the deployment of a powerful data center infrastructure.

As noted in the Visual Capitalist study, by the beginning of 2024, the most data center was located in the United States - 5388 objects. The leadership of the region is due to the fact that the sites of the leading players in the cloud market - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud are concentrated here . In second place in the ranking is Germany with 522 data centers, and Britain closes the top three with 517 objects. Russia in the list is in ninth position with 255 data centers. Overall, the top ten looks like this:

1. USA - 5388 data centers;
2. Germany - 522;
3. Britain - 517;
4. China - 449;

Canada# — 336; France# — 315;

1. Australia - 306;

Netherlands# — 300;

1. Russia - 255;

Japan# — 219. ^[2]

Expenses for the reconstruction of data centers in the world for the year reached $9.58 billion

In 2023, the cost of reconstructing data centers (data centers) globally reached $9.58 billion. For comparison, a year earlier, expenses in this area were estimated at $8.59 billion. Thus, growth was recorded at 11%. This is stated in a study by Market Research Future, the results of which were published at the end of September 2024.

Analysts highlight several factors contributing to the increase in the cost of reconstructing data centers. The continued active adoption of cloud computing, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI) is driving the need for more efficient, scalable, and secure data centers. As a result, many companies are investing in data center upgrade projects to upgrade their existing capacity to meet market needs.

The authors of the report call the deployment of modular and prefabricated data centers an important trend in the field of data center reconstruction. These solutions provide faster commissioning and greater flexibility compared to traditional construction methods. Such technologies are becoming more and more popular among companies around the world. Another growth factor is the expansion of peripheral computing. Plus, governments around the world are introducing stricter rules and compliance requirements for data centers, including energy efficiency and safety standards. These rules make it necessary to reconstruct existing data centers.

By type of reconstruction, the industry is segmented into mechanical renovation, electrical renovation and infrastructure renovation. The growth of the first of these segments is due to the need to modernize and replace outdated heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, as well as other mechanical components to improve energy efficiency and reliability. Electrical renovation is associated with the deployment of modern power distribution systems in conditions of increasing computational load. Infrastructure renovations include upgrading components such as raised floors, cable management systems, and security systems to meet changing IT requirements and deliver optimal performance. Costs are expected to increase in all three areas.

Among the significant market players are Siemens, Microsoft, Schneider Electric, Dell, Johnson Controls, Legrand, Eaton, ABB, Honeywell, Emerson Electric, NPE, IBM, Google, Vertiv and Cisco. Geographically, North America holds a significant market share, attributed to the presence of leading data center operators, growing demand for data storage and processing, the introduction of cloud computing, and the proliferation of data-intensive applications. Europe is showing stable development, fueled by demand for energy-efficient and sustainable data centers. In addition, there has been an increase in investment in data center infrastructure in Europe. The Asia-Pacific region is also showing strong growth, driven by the expansion of the digital economy and urbanization. South America, the Middle East and Africa are developing at a slower pace.

At the end of 2024, the global cost of reconstructing data centers is estimated at $10.68 billion. Market Research Future analysts believe that in the future, the CAGR (CAGR in complex percentages) will be 11.49%. As a result, by 2032, spending in the sector under consideration could reach $25.5 billion.^[3]

The main trends of the world data center market in 2024 are named

The global data center (data center) market continues to expand rapidly. This is facilitated by the rapid introduction of applications and services based on artificial intelligence, the transfer of workloads to the cloud, the development of the Internet of Things ( IoT ) infrastructure, the need for high-performance and peripheral computing, etc. At the same time, there are a number of restraining factors that hinder the development of the industry. The main trends in the global data center market are described in the CBRE review, which TAdviser got acquainted with in early September 2024.

The main trends in the data center market in 2024

Power shortage

It is said that the COVID-19 pandemic and the formed geopolitical situation had a significant impact on the data center market. These events triggered a sharp rise in energy prices. Data center operators and hyperscalers in North America, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region faced limited availability of energy resources. Other geographical markets, where the problem of electricity supply is not so acute, are attracting more and more investors investing in the construction of data centers.

Large corporations are facing increasing difficulties in securing data center capacity. Disruption to supply chains, construction delays and power supply problems are affecting all regions, CBRE said in a filing.

At the same time, the global shortage of electricity continues to stimulate the rise in prices for data center services. As of the beginning of 2024, the highest rental rates are recorded in dollar terms in Singapore - from $315 to $480 per month for 250-500 kW. At the same time, Chicago has the lowest prices - from $155 to $165.

The impact of artificial intelligence

Analysts note that advances in AI are leading to a rapid increase in demand for data center services on a global scale. The growing need for high-performance computing leads to the need to accelerate the design and construction of advanced data centers with increased density and improved efficiency. Such sites are equipped with liquid cooling systems that help reduce emissions of harmful gases into the atmosphere.

Pre-lease of data centers

Against the background of the emerging shortage of data center capacities, pre-lease of tanks at the stage of construction or commissioning becomes standard practice. Corporate customers book space in commercial data centers of colocation providers in advance to meet their growing computing needs. Demand is observed, in particular, among Internet corporations that have their own hyperscale data centers, but need additional platforms for providing digital services.

Reducing vacant capacity

The amount of available resources continues to decline in most world markets due to high demand. Singapore is the most electricity-limited market in the world, with only 7.2 MW of capacity available here as of the first quarter of 2024. The problem is also relevant for a number of other regions.

Overall, despite power supply problems, North American data centers grew 24.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, adding 807.5 MW of capacity in Northern Virginia, Chicago, Dallas and Silicon Valley, the CBRE study noted. The European data center market grew by almost 20%, with significant development seen in all four major markets - Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris.^[4]

Investors rush to buy up data centers in Asia due to boom around AI

The rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies and generative services provoked a sharp increase in interest in data processing centers in Asia from investors. Cloud platforms in this region are actively developing the world's leading data center operators, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google. At the same time, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions worth billions of dollars are being prepared, as stated in the materials released on May 8, 2024.

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) estimates that the volume of various data center transactions in the Asia-Pacific region, including Japan, reached a record value of $3.45 billion in 2023. At the same time, M&A agreements accounted for $840.47 million, which is more than half of the total amount in the corresponding segment.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence technologies and generative services has provoked a sharp increase in interest in data centers in Asia

The intensive development of data centers in the most densely populated region of the world is due to the fact that amid the AI boom, the need for computing power and storage resources is growing. For example, Microsoft announced plans to invest $2.2 billion in cloud infrastructure and AI services in Malaysia. The corporation is implementing similar projects in Indonesia and Thailand.

It is noted that the population of Asia shows high online activity, which contributes to the development of data transmission networks and data centers. Moreover, AI creates the need for the high computing power necessary to teach large language models and inference problems. Against this background, according to Reuters, the rapid development of Asian data centers is expected, and therefore this market is very attractive for investors. In 2024, at least several large transactions in the data center segment are expected in the region. Bain Capital, KKR & Co., Blackstone, PGIM and other investment companies are betting on this region.^[5]

Data centers in the United States began to feed coal

In mid-April 2024, it was reported that data centers (data centers) in Northern Virginia USA () were forced to switch to energy from coal-fired power plants. The reason is the rapid expansion data centers in the region, which is why there is a shortage of energy resources.

According to the US Department of Energy, one data center may require 50 times more electricity than a regular office building. In Northern Virginia, the number of data centers has been growing steadily since the 1990s. They are located mainly in Loudon and Prince William counties; in addition, construction of sites is underway in Maryland. As of April 2024, there are about 300 data centers in the region, creating a huge load on the energy complex. Loudon receives approximately $600 million in data center taxes each year, and Prince William receives approximately $100 million in taxes.

Data centers in Northern Virginia (US) forced to switch to energy from coal-fired power plants

Renewable energy sources are not able to meet the needs of data centers in Northern Virginia, and therefore the operation of coal plants continues. This worsens the environmental situation, which is why local residents have health problems. In addition, people complain about the strong noise that comes from cooling systems and other equipment located at the sites of data center operators.

Authorities in Northern Virginia are considering laying hundreds of kilometers of new power lines from neighboring states. However, the project has faced resistance from farmers, who claim that such highways will pass through their agricultural land, which means they will deprive them of part of the land and profit. Energy companies promise to compensate any losses to local residents, but discontent among the population is growing. It is also said about a possible increase in electricity bills.^[6]

2023

The volume of the global data center market for the year grew by 12% and reached $71.21 billion

In 2023, costs in the global data center (data center) market reached $71.21 billion. The increase compared to 2022, when expenses were estimated at $63.49 billion, was recorded at 12%. Industry trends are addressed in the Market Research Future survey published in early November 2024.

Analysts note that the global data center market is on the rise, which is explained by several factors. One is the continued migration of workloads to the cloud. Organizations across sectors are moving from traditional on-premises infrastructure to cloud-based solutions that provide scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness. Enterprises are increasingly relying on digital platforms to maintain operations, communicate with customers, and process information, creating an additional need for data center resources. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend: platforms for remote work and distance learning have begun to rapidly gain popularity around the world.

The data center market is also being driven by the adoption of technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and big data analytics . Peripheral computing is named as another growth factor. As the amount of information generated by IoT devices continues to increase exponentially, so does the need to process and analyze this data closer to its source. Peripheral computing reduces latency and improves performance while reducing the burden on traditional data centers. In addition, the integration of peripheral computing solutions into the existing data center infrastructure opens up additional directions for innovation. Companies have the opportunity to improve their operational efficiency, as well as ensure the provision of services to customers in real time.

In 2023, in the total volume of the market, constellation services accounted for about $20 billion. Another $17.5 billion was provided by renting large areas and resources for the needs of large customers. The managed hosting segment is estimated at $15 billion, while cloud services brought in $18.71 billion. From a geographical point of view, North America is leading with an estimate of $30 billion: many large players are located here, and the demand for cloud services continues to increase. This is followed by Europe with costs of $20 billion, and the Asia-Pacific region closes the top three with $15 billion. In South America, revenue amounted to approximately $3 billion, while the contribution of the Middle East and Africa is estimated at $3.21 billion. This regional segmentation highlights different growth dynamics influenced by factors such as infrastructure readiness, technology adoption and economic development.

As digital transformation continues to change business models, companies are increasingly investing in data center infrastructure to improve operational efficiency and scalability. The list of the most significant players in the global data center industry includes:

• Oracle;
• Interxion;
• Equinix;
• CyrusOne;
• Rackspace;
• Microsoft;
• Amazon;
• IBM;
• Flexential;
• NTT Data;
• Digital Realty;
• Alibaba;
• Google;
• Kubernetes.

At the end of 2024, revenue in the global data center market is estimated at $79.87 billion. Market Research Future analysts believe that in the future, the CAGR (average annual growth rate in complex percentages) will be 12.16%. As a result, by 2032, costs on a global scale could reach up to $200 billion.^[7]

The volume of construction of data centers in the world for the year reached $212.6 billion

At the end of 2023, the volume of construction of data centers (data centers) on a global scale reached $212.6 billion. Key drivers of the industry are the ongoing digital transformation, increasing demand for cloud services, the proliferation of mobile devices and the rapid development of artificial intelligence. This is stated in a study by Allied Market Research, the results of which TAdviser got acquainted with in early September 2024.

The authors of the report note that worldwide there is a growing demand for a reliable data center infrastructure capable of processing huge amounts of data. This is explained, in particular, by the continued movement of workloads to the cloud: this model allows companies to save on their own IT infrastructure, purchase the necessary equipment and pay for the services of maintenance personnel. Instead of deploying local data centers, organizations are increasingly turning to combination sites, with providers providing a flexible and secure environment that allows companies to scale IT resources as needed.

The rapid adoption of cloud services and peripheral computing is driving the growth of the data center construction market on a global scale. Companies are increasingly turning to cloud platforms to streamline operations, increase flexibility and drive innovation, Allied Market Research said in a review.

In addition, there is a rapid increase in the volume of generated data against the background of the development of technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), AI and machine learning. Such applications require large capacities for storing and processing information, which creates the need to build additional data centers. Against this background, hyperscalers and large operators carry out regional expansion, creating facilities in new markets. The development of technologies and services of generative AI, according to experts, will only increase the demand for hyperscaler services, since they have more ability to manage such loads.

The ongoing digital revolution requires the deployment of a powerful data center infrastructure. These factors further fuel the growth of the global data center construction market, the analysts emphasize.

The structure of data centers varies greatly depending on the region. Thus, the resources of hyperscalers are concentrated primarily in the United States, where the leading players in the cloud market are represented - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. On the other hand, the Asia-Pacific region is demonstrating the fastest pace of development, which is facilitated by the rapid digitalization and distribution of Internet-connected devices.

The authors of the study note that the pandemic COVID-19 and the formed geopolitical situation had a significant impact on the data center market. These developments triggered a surge in energy prices, which directly impacted construction data center decisions around the world. In addition, the availability of materials and equipment necessary for the construction of facilities has deteriorated. Significant market players are Cisco Systems,,,,, IBM, Oracle Hitachi Equinix Schneider Electric Huawei Technologies, and Hewlett Fujitsu Packard Enterprise Development LP.

Analysts believe that in the future, the CAGR (average annual growth rate in complex percentages) in the market under consideration will be 7.4%. As a result, it is expected that by the 2032nd volume of construction of data centers in the world will reach $416.4 billion.^[8]

Corporate data centers accounted for 37% of the global data center market

In 2023, the share of corporate data centers in the total volume of the global data center market amounted to 37%. For comparison, in 2017, this figure was estimated at 60%. Negative dynamics is primarily explained by the rapid development of hyperscalers, which support, among other things, resource-intensive loads associated with artificial intelligence. This is stated in the materials of Synergy Research Group, published on August 7, 2024.

The number of large data centers managed by hyperscalers exceeded the 1,000 mark. Synergy Research Group estimates that by the end of 2023, such facilities account for 41% of all data center capacities on a global scale. A little more than half of this capacity is concentrated in the own data centers of hyperscalers, and the rest is in rented premises. In 2017, hyperscalers accounted for about 21% of the total capacity of data centers in the world, with capacity also distributed approximately equally between their own and rented sites. The report says that bell tanks that are not related to hyperscalers, at the end of 2023, accounted for 22% of the world capacity of data centers.

The capacity structure of data centers varies greatly depending on the region. For example, the resources of hyperscalers are concentrated primarily in the United States, where the leading players in the cloud market are represented - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. In Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, hyperscaler facilities are on a smaller scale as of the end of 2023. However, the authors of the study note, in general, the trends in the development of the data center market are the same for all geographical regions. This is explained by the continued movement of workloads to the cloud: this model allows you to save on your own IT infrastructure, purchase the necessary equipment and pay for the services of maintenance personnel. In 2012, businesses spent 12 times more on hardware and software for their own data centers than on cloud services, according to Synergy Research Group. And in 2023, spending on cloud services turned out to be three times more than on its own data center infrastructure.

Add to this the huge growth of SaaS (software-as-a-service) services and consumer-facing digital services such as social media, e-commerce and online gaming, and the result will be the rapid growth of hyper-scale data centers, "says John Dinsdale, lead analyst at Synergy Research Group.

Enterprises around the world are also increasingly choosing to place equipment on call sites, which further reduces the need for corporate data centers. The development of technologies and services for generative AI, according to experts, will only strengthen these trends, since hyperscalers have more ability to manage such loads than ordinary companies.

Analysts believe that by 2029, hyperscalers will account for more than 60% of the world's data center capacities, while the share of corporate data centers will be reduced to 20%. During the period under review, the total capacity of data centers of all types will continue to grow rapidly, which is explained by the ongoing introduction of AI. According to Synergy Research Group estimates, by 2029 the capacity of hyperscaler data centers will rise almost three times compared to 2023. The share of corporate data centers in the total volume will decrease by almost 3% per year, although the actual capacity of such facilities will remain relatively stable.^[9]

The volume of the global market for modular data centers for the year reached $7.2 billion. Leaders

At the end of 2023, the global modular data center (data center) industry, including micro-class solutions, reached $7.2 billion. In the future, stable growth is expected in the market under consideration. This is stated in the study by Omdia, the results of which were published on July 22, 2024.

Several factors contribute to the development of the market. Modular data centers can be deployed much faster than traditional data centers. This allows you to quickly put computing resources into operation and start performing tasks. Another advantage of modular data centers is good scalability: organizations can add additional capacity as needed. Thanks to the modular design, it is possible to gradually increase the resources of the data center and, accordingly, optimize the distribution of investments in the development of IT infrastructure. By reducing construction and operation costs, high cost efficiency is achieved. Other benefits include standardized build quality, centralized management and monitoring with remote control, and cooling and power optimization capabilities.

According to Omdia estimates, in 2023, modular data centers accounted for approximately $4.8 billion in the total volume of the market under consideration. The largest player is Huawei with a share of about 26%. This is followed Schneider Electric by 10%, and closes the top three, the Vertiv result of which is 6%. It is noted that the three largest suppliers North America in are Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric and M.C. Dean. In Western To Europe , Vertiv is the leader, Rittal while Huawei it is the largest supplier Asia in both Oceania and countries in the Europe Middle East and Africa.

In the micro-data center segment, revenue in 2023 amounted to about $2.4 billion. In this category, the Huawei also leads, the share of which is approximately 18%. Then comes Vertiv, holding 8% of the sector. The third place is in DTCT, the result of which is 5%. Micro-modular data centers consist of single and multi-module designs, which are supplied by the manufacturer in pre-assembled form. Demand for such solutions continues to grow.

Micro-data centers are attractive to both cloud service providers and enterprises. Off-site pre-integration speeds up installation at the customer's site, "says Vlad Galabov, director of cloud computing and data center research at Omdia.

Modular data centers offer a variety of deployment options. In particular, they are suitable for upgrading or expanding the existing IT infrastructure, as well as for creating computing platforms on the periphery. In addition, such systems are suitable for companies that initially have a limited budget, but plan to increase computing resources in the future. Omdia analyst Siraj Aziz believes that innovation in modular data centers will continue. At the same time, special attention will be paid to ensuring high density of computing power to maintain loads associated with artificial intelligence and machine learning. One of the main areas of development will be the integration of effective liquid cooling systems.

According to Omdia estimates, global sales of modular data centers by 2027 will reach $8.6 billion. At the same time, the volume of the micro-data center segment will amount to approximately $3.1 billion. Thus, the total costs will be at the level of $11.7 billion.^[10]

The number of large data centers in the world approached 1000

By the end of 2023, the number of large data centers that are managed by hyperscalers reached 992 on a global scale. The total capacity of such objects continues to grow rapidly, which is explained by the rapid development of artificial intelligence and an increase in the amount of information generated. This is stated in a study by Synergy Research Group, the results of which were published in mid-April 2024.

The data is based on an analysis of the infrastructure of 19 of the world's largest corporations providing cloud and Internet services. These are, in particular, operators of SaaS ("software as a service"), IaaS ("infrastructure as a service"), PaaS ("platform as a service"), search engines, e-commerce platforms, popular gaming services, etc. The leading players in the data center market include American Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Each of these companies operates not only huge capacities in the United States, but also operates data centers in many other countries around the world. This three leaders in the ranking of the largest data center operators are followed by Meta (recognized as an extremist organization; activities in the Russian Federation are prohibited), Alibaba, Tencent, Apple, ByteDance, etc. At the same time, Amazon, Microsoft and Google as of the end of 2023 account for approximately 60% of the capacity of all major data centers in the world.

Synergy Research Group estimates that the US share of the total capacity of hyperscale data centers (in MW of critical IT load) is approximately 51%. Another 17% is the contribution of Europe, 16% is China. The rest of the Asia-Pacific region accounts for 10%.

The study says that the total capacity of all hyperscale data centers in the world has doubled in four years (by the end of 2023). The number of such sites is rapidly increasing: it is expected that about 120-130 large data centers will appear each year. The main reason for such a rapid development of the industry is the introduction of generative AI technologies: huge computing resources are required to train the corresponding models.

Facilities that are managed by hyperscalers accounted for 37% of the total data center capacity in the world in 2023. About half of these capacities are located in the own data centers of hyperscalers, the other half - in rented ones. It is noted that in the mid-2010s, enterprises annually spent over $80 billion on hardware and software of their own data centers, while investments in nascent cloud infrastructure services amounted to less than $10 billion. However, ten years later, the growth rate of spending on local data centers decreased to 2% per year. At the same time, the cost of cloud platforms increases by an average of 42% annually: in 2022 they reached $227 billion.

In general, the demand for data center services is growing worldwide. Companies and organizations are generating more and more heterogeneous information, and additional capacity is needed to store and process it. Other drivers of the data center market are digitalization and cloud technologies. According to estimates by Synergy Research Group, the number of large data centers in the world exceeded the landmark mark of 1000 units in early 2024.

The growth of hyperscalers is also facilitated by the rapid development of more consumer-oriented digital services: social networks, e-commerce platforms, online games, etc. Analysts believe that corporate data centers will not disappear completely, but will increasingly be inferior in scale to hyperscalers and call providers.^[11]

The leading countries are named by the number of data centers. Russia in the top ten

In 2023, amid the rapid development of artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, the number of data centers in operation worldwide increased by 48% compared to the previous year. Russia is in the top 10 countries in terms of the number of data centers (data centers). This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company Statista, which became known in June 2024.

The leader in the number of data centers in the world in 2023 was USA with 5375 objects. In second place with a large lag is - Germany 522 data centers. Britain closes the top three with 517 sites. This is followed by China - Canada 448 and 335 data centers, respectively. Russia is in the ranking in ninth position with 255 data centers.

The capacity of Russian data centers in 2023 amounted to 70.3 thousand racks, which is 12 thousand racks higher than in 2022. At the same time, as stated in the study, 21.5 thousand racks fall on Rostelecom DPC: this company retains leadership in putting new capacities into operation. Leading data center service providers in Russia also include DataPro, Ixcellerate, MTS, Selectel, Atomdata Center, 3data, Lunxdatacenter, Oxygen and Stack Telecom.

From a regional point of view, Moscow is in the lead with 53,300 racks, or 76%, in terms of the number of put into operation in Russia for 2023. Then comes St. Petersburg - 7780 racks and 11%. All other regions combined account for 9200 racks, or 13%. Thus, a significant imbalance in the distribution of data center capacities between the Russian regions remains.

In general, the data center industry in Russia is actively developing. The State Duma plans in 2024 to adopt amendments to the law "On Communications," which will give data processing centers an official status. The new rules will allow extending benefits for technical connection to energy supply to data centers, as well as optimizing the registration of rights to land plots.^[12]

In the United States, began to create data centers with nuclear reactors

In mid-August 2023, it became known that the American company Green Energy Partners (GEP), in partnership with IP3 International, a nuclear technology firm, began creating a network of data centers (DPCs) with nuclear reactors. Read more here.

Named 4 main trends that will change the markets of data centers, cloud and peripheral computing

On May 16, 2023, Gartner identified four trends that are expected to determine the further development of the global data center (data center), cloud platform, and edge computing (Edge) market.

Analysts believe IT Infrastructure and Operations (I&O) teams will be forced to refocus on new business models and promising technologies. This is primarily due to macroeconomic challenges, a difficult geopolitical situation, a high inflation rate and a slowdown in investment. Many enterprises and organizations have suspended or canceled certain IT projects due to funding difficulties and the need to reduce costs.

2023 is not suitable for implementing large-scale initiatives, but it marks a moment for reorienting, retooling and rethinking IT infrastructure. There are opportunities in every crisis, and in this case, a chance to make positive changes that may be long overdue, "said Paul Delory, vice president of Gartner.

Trend# 1. IT teams optimize and reorganize cloud infrastructure

Public clouds, as noted by Gartner, are used almost everywhere, but many such platforms are not well developed and poorly implemented. In 2023, I&O departments have the opportunity to revise deployed cloud infrastructures to make them more efficient, fault-tolerant and cost-effective. The focus, according to analysts, should be cost optimization by eliminating excess or unused resources. In addition, companies should improve the sustainability of business processes and use cloud platforms as a tool to mitigate the effects of disruptions in equipment supply chains. Gartner estimates that by 2027, 65% of workloads will be able to be delivered through the cloud versus 45% in 2022.

Trend# 2. Advanced applications will require new types of infrastructures

I&O teams are constantly faced with the need to deploy a new type of infrastructure. These are Edge platforms for data intensive tasks, systems for specialized workloads with alternative architectures (not x86), as well as mobile services based on 5G. In such a situation, Gartner believes, by 2026 about 15% of local workloads will be performed in containers, compared to less than 5% in 2022.

Trend# 3. Implementing Cloud Data Center Principles in Local Infrastructures

Against the background of the rapid development of sites providing access to hardware resources according to the "as a service" model, the need for local data centers is reduced. Therefore, analysts say, I&O teams in 2023 should focus on implementing cloud principles in their data centers, moving workloads from their own resources to colocation platforms or peripherals, and using the "as a service" model for physical infrastructure.

Trend# 4. Professional development will be the main key to the success of companies

The shortage of qualified employees, according to Gartner, is the main obstacle in the implementation of projects to modernize IT infrastructures. At the same time, it is not always possible to solve the problem by attracting specialists from the outside. In such a situation, companies should focus on expanding the skills of their employees. For example, I&O departments will be able to advise development teams and business units. Gartner predicts that by 2027, 60% of data center infrastructure teams will have related skills in automation and cloud computing - versus 30% in 2022.^[13]

Tencent builds China's largest data centre

On May 10, 2023, it became known that the Chinese corporation Tencent completed the construction of the first stage of the world's largest data center (DPC). The site is focused on resource-intensive loads, including those associated with new generation neural network algorithms. Read more here.

2022

Growth in investments in global data centers by 15% to $241 billion

Global Data Center (Data Center) investment in 2022 rose 15% from the previous year. This is stated in a study by Dell'Oro Group, the results of which were presented on March 16, 2023.

The report takes into account the supply of servers, storage systems (DSS), as well as auxiliary equipment and other hardware solutions that are used in data centers and as part of hyperscale platforms.

At the end of 2022, global investments in data centers reportedly reached $241 billion. For comparison: a year earlier, this figure was approximately $209 billion. In 2022, the top ten cloud service providers accounted for 48% of global data center investment. Dell became the leading server provider in terms of revenue, followed by HPE and Inspur. It is noted that the upcoming changes in server architecture and the growing need for high-performance computing will contribute to long-term investments in data centers. However, in 2023, growth in spending on cloud technology and corporate data centers will slow down.

Hyperscale cloud service providers have been actively expanding capacity for three years in a row, overcoming supply difficulties. Businesses have also increased spending on information technology through digital transformation initiatives. But a slowdown is expected in the future, as hyperscalers reduce costs and seek to improve efficiency, while companies will more carefully analyze spending in an uncertain economic situation. Thus, there will be a transition from a supply-constrained environment to a oversaturated market as demand in certain sectors declines, "said Baron Fung, senior research director at Dell'Oro Group.

Analysts also analyzed the Data Center Physical Infrastructure (DCPI) segment. In 2022, costs in this sector rose by 10% compared to 2021. The growth was primarily due to an increase in the average selling price (ASP) of products, as suppliers faced higher costs for raw materials, components and logistics. The industry was significantly affected by macroeconomic uncertainties, a shortage of electronic components and disruptions in the supply channels.

By the end of 2022, Vertiv, Schneider Electric and Eaton became the largest suppliers of DCPI products in terms of revenue. North America and Asia Pacific (excluding China) were the fastest growing markets with double-digit percent gains. The Caribbean and Latin America (CALA), Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), as well as China, also showed positive dynamics, but the increase in these regions was not so significant. If we consider the industry in terms of product categories, then the maximum growth in 2022 was recorded in the segments of rack power distribution units and thermal control systems.

Analysts at Dell'Oro Group believe that DCPI market growth in 2023 will be approximately 10%. This will be facilitated by deferred demand due to failures in supply channels in 2022. At the same time, experts point to the possible redistribution of the shares of the largest players. In general, as noted, the situation with the availability of components is improving, and therefore, by the end of 2023, the demand for relevant products from data centers may weaken^[14][3]

On the global market of data centers for the year concluded 187 transactions on mergers and acquisitions for $48 billion

The global data center market has 187 M&A deals in 2022. This is stated in a study by Synergy Research Group, the results of which were published at the end of January 2023.

The total amount of signed agreements in 2022 amounted to $48 billion. This almost corresponds to a record $49 billion in transactions concluded in 2021. For seven years (by the end of 2022), the total value of mergers and acquisitions in the data center sector exceeded $200 billion, and almost half of them fell on 2021-2022. Since 2018, the average transaction size has almost tripled, rising from $80 million to $235 million (in 2022).

In addition to the rapid growth of general activity in the field of mergers and acquisitions in the data center segment, the most noticeable feature was the scale of attracting private investment. In 2020, such investments accounted for 55% of the total value of closed transactions. In 2021, the indicator increased to 66%, and in 2022 reached 91%. Since 2018, the amount of such funding has risen by an average of 50% per year and in 2022 reached about $44 billion.

The main events of 2022 were the acquisition of CyrusOne for $15 billion by investment companies KKR and Global Investment Partners, as well as the purchase of Switch by Digital Bridge for $11 billion. In 2021, the key transactions were the acquisitions of CoreSite and QTS, each for about $10 billion. These agreements were the four most expensive acquisitions ever made in the data center industry. All four acquired companies are among the world's 16 leading data center operators, while in the US market they occupy places from third to sixth, second only to Equinix and Digital Realty.

Prior to the listed four record transactions, the largest mergers and acquisitions agreements in the global data center market were the company's acquisition Interxion Digital Realty for $8.4 billion. DuPont Fabros' $7.6 billion purchase of Digital Realty Telecity , the company's Equinix $3.8 billion takeover, acquisition of data centers Verizon by operator Equinix for $3.6 billion and purchase of Global Switch by Chinese group Jiangsu Shagang Group, which ultimately resulted in more than $8 billion. In addition to these mega-deals, Equinix, Digital Realty,, EQT DigitalBridge/Vantage, Stonepeak CyrusOne, GDS, GI Partners,, Keppel Macquarie, Mapletree and showed the greatest activity in the market. NTT

Data centers are seen as long-term profitable acquisitions even in a complex macroeconomic environment, which causes a huge influx of private capital. Ten of the twelve largest deals in the past twelve months (by the end of 2022) involved private buyers, except for Equinix's acquisition of Entel data centers and the firm's purchase of Digital Realty's controlling stake in Teraco. In the US, only six of the top twenty colocation players are public companies, says a study by Synergy Research Group.

According to analysts at Dell'Oro Group, by 2027 global investments in data centers will reach $400 billion. Cost growth will be provided not only by leading operators such as AWS and Microsoft Azure, but also by hybrid cloud platforms. Enterprises will continuously optimize their IT deployments by balancing workloads in multi-cloud environments with local ones. New applications will also require infrastructure on the periphery, which will lead to a new ecosystem, according to Dell'Oro^[15]

The number of largest data centers in the world exceeded 800

The number of hyperscale data centers in the world in the second quarter of 2022 exceeded 800, analysts at Synergy Research Group said in September 2022. About 53% of the capacity of such facilities falls on the United States.

More than a third of data center resources in the U.S. are concentrated in just one state - Virginia, according to the study. It is called the world capital of the Internet. It is in this state that most of Amazon's data centers are located, and many objects of Microsoft, Facebook, Google and ByteDance are also based there.

About 15% of data center capacities in the world are concentrated in China. This market, according to researchers, remains relatively isolated, but there are data centers of such large Chinese companies as Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu. In Europe, the leading countries in terms of hyperscale infrastructure are Ireland and the Netherlands.

In Europe, the Netherlands and Ireland have always been the biggest data centre markets, ahead of larger economies such as Germany and the UK. But globally, the US state of Virginia is the preeminent region. Virginia has much more hyper-scalable data center capacity than China or the entire European continent, said Synergy analyst John Dinsdale.

The largest number of hyperscale data centers belongs to Amazon, Microsoft and Google. Each has more than 130 data centers, with at least 25 in each of the major regions - North America, Asia Pacific and Europe. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Alibaba and Tencent are leading in terms of data center capacity.

The Synergy Group study was based on an analysis of the activities of the 20 largest providers of cloud and online services, including SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, as well as operators of search engines, social networks, online stores and playgrounds.^[16]

2021

Growth in investments in data centers by 9% to $200 billion

Capital investments in the construction of new and renewal of existing data centers around the world at the end of 2021 for the first time exceeded $200 billion. This is 9% more than in 2020, analysts at Dell'Oro Group said in March 2022.

Dell'Oro Group Research Director Baron Fung linked the growth in data center investment to the rise in average server prices, which in turn is caused by increased costs in supply chains and the so-called commodification of server equipment. Commodization refers to the facilitation of the production of products, achieved by increasing their unification, quantity and availability as much as possible. Something becomes commodified when one sentence is practically no different from the other. As a result of technological innovation, comprehensive education and frequent repetition, goods and services become commodified and therefore widely available.

According to experts, the quantitative supply of servers for data centers in 2021 increased by only a few percent. New server platforms equipped with advanced processors and AI accelerators also contributed to increased investment in data centers as a whole in 2021.

The market is poised for further acceleration this [2022] as manufacturers address current sourcing challenges. The new data centers, network refresh cycle, and further adoption of accelerated computing are expected to drive up costs for large cloud service providers and enterprise customers, Fang reported.

Dell'Oro Group predicts that in 2021, investments in data centers on a global scale will exceed $240 billion, and server deliveries in physical terms will return to double-digit growth (by more than 10%) amid easing supply problems. for 2022, hyperscale cloud server providers have planned to launch new services in more than 40 regions.

According to the analytical company Synergy Research Group, by the end of September 2021, there were 700 hyperscale data centers in the world. Almost half (49%) of the capacity of such data centers falls on the territory of the United States. However, the share of this region on a global scale is decreasing, albeit slowly - in comparison with the third quarter of 2020, the indicator decreased by only 1 percentage point.

Second in terms of total performance of hyperscale data centers is 15 China percent. Next are EMEA (, Europe Middle East,); Africa share - 19%, Asia-Pacific (13%) and Canada with Latin America (4%).

Arizona Advisory & Intelligence also notes that companies often face difficulties in obtaining water permits for cooling facilities when building giant data centers. This encourages data center operators and equipment manufacturers to collaborate and jointly develop systems that can save up to 50% of central water consumption.

One of the main drivers of the growth of investments in data centers, Arizona Advisory & Intelligence analysts call the interest in such projects by the authorities of the countries. The latter apply various incentive measures, including imposing preferential electricity tariffs and distributing land plots free of charge for the construction of data centers. Another catalyst for the growth of the market in question concerns the use of renewable energy sources.^[17]

76% of the world's data centers will use quantum computing by 2023

Atos and IQM on December 10, 2021 presented the results of their first global study on the prospects for the development of quantum high-performance computing. According to its results, quantum computing is among the top 3 technologies in the 500 largest data centers in the world. Thus, 76% of HPC data centers around the world already use quantum computing or plan to move to it by 2023. With this solution, they will be able to effectively manage supply chains and solve climate change problems (45%), as well as find solutions to current tasks faster (38%) while reducing computing costs (42%). At the same time, 71% of data centers are going to switch to local quantum computing by 2026.

During the study, representatives of 110 high-performance computing centers around the world were interviewed. The survey found that users are finding it increasingly difficult to achieve optimal HPC performance while providing security and resiliency.

A key part of the HPC architecture is the cloud, which allows you to combine local elements with infrastructure components designed based on individual requirements. According to the results of the study, the deployment of high-performance computing in the cloud and hybrid model is in high demand in the EMEA region. 50% of respondents prefer hybrid architecture (North America - 46%; Asia-Pacific - 38%). However, due to a lack of knowledge about how quantum computing interacts with classical HPC infrastructure, the implementation and maintenance of these technologies will be outsourced to partners.

The development and testing of real-world use cases is critical to the future success of quantum computing, Atos noted. They are most often used in analyzing large amounts of data and solving industry problems. A survey of HPC centers identified four main scenarios for using these technologies:

• Search databases in (59%);
• Investment risk analysis (45%);
• Molecular modeling (41%);
• Asset management (32%).

"We are working with leading HPC centers around the world and have conducted this research to provide the industry with a deep understanding of the state of quantum technology in HPC centers. Planning investments in stationary quantum computers, the skill shortage issue, and the focus on sustainability are important takeaways from this study that will help IQM, Atos, and our ecosystem partners develop new products and offerings, "noted Dr. Jan Getz, CEO and Co-Founder of IQM Quantum Computers.

"Quantum computing can improve methods for solving both scientific and business problems. Nevertheless, the trends of adoption of this advanced technology by organizations around the world have been little understood. The study sheds light on how HPC centers are experimenting with quantum computing and how they plan to do so in the future. We now know what key steps need to be taken to make our developments even more in demand, "shared Dr. Stefano Perini, Co-Head of IDC's European Quantum Computing Practice, IDC Spokesperson.

"Together with IDC and IQM, we conducted a comprehensive study of quantum computing capabilities for the supercomputer market. According to its results, Europe is most interested in using these technologies and is showing steady growth in this direction. This is due to the special ecosystem for quantum computing that the countries of the region possess. Cooperation with partners who have implemented such projects is especially necessary for newcomers in this area, "said Udo Littke, head of Atos Central Europe.

10 trends in the data center market

In May 2021, CRN released material in which it cited 10 trends in the data center market, which, according to observers, will become the main ones in 2021. According to DellMichael Dell CEO, technology "prevented a complete economic crisis in society" by allowing the world to work, learn and play from home during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Data centers have played one of the most important roles in preventing a potential collapse of the global economy and continue to play an increasing role as a "new normal" is formed with the further development of remote work and the digital economy.

Data Center as a Service

Global leaders in the server, storage, and hyperconverged infrastructure market are fundamentally changing their sales to allow businesses to buy data center products in new ways, while at the same time seeking to win market share from public cloud providers that have achieved success in 2020. Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell Technologies are developing in this direction more than ever before.

AWS, Microsoft, Google are actively investing in data centers

Three public cloud giants spend billions each quarter to build and equip new hyper-scalable data centers around the world to expand the reach of cloud services. In fact, Amazon, Microsoft and Google own more than 50% of the world's largest data centers as of May 2021. Companies will continue to invest in this segment to increase market coverage by expanding their data entry areas to new geographic or high-cloud and data service requirements regions.

Spending on data centers is increasing, the figure will reach $237 billion

According to the latest forecast of IT research, in Gartner 2021 the global market for data center systems will reach $237 billion, which represents an increase of more than 7% on an annualized basis. Without reducing data demand, as well as increasing demand for co-location opportunities and, the hybrid cloud data center market will grow over the next few years.

The Battle for Innovation Between Intel and AMD

As innovation in server processors reaches an extremely high level due to the competition between Intel and, AMD new uses and service opportunities are opening up in the data center. According to the latest report, Mercury Research AMD in the first quarter of 2021 showed the largest increase in the share of microprocessors compared to Intel in the server market with. processorsEPYC

Nvidia intends to gain leadership in the data center market

Nvidia can completely transform the data center market over the next few years with next-level data center innovation and can drive market consolidation. Nvidia's data center product development plan will include GPUs, data processing units (DPUs) and processors, with each product line receiving an updated architecture every two years.

Increase the pace of robotization and automation

The global pandemic has strengthened the need to make data centers less dependent on human intervention, helped by an influx of innovations in software automation and artificial intelligence. The data center industry sees the benefits of using smarter standalone systems for simple tasks and distributed environments designed to expand capabilities. More than 40% of respondents said they would use robotics and automation to monitor and maintain data centers over the next three years, according to AFCOM's 2021 Data Center Industry Health Survey. 16% of respondents said they are already using such solutions, and 35% plan to do so by 2024.

Increased private investment in data centers

In 2021, global investors will see data centers as one of the best ways to make money as demand for cloud services and remote work soars.

Green Data Centers

In 2021, the environmental component of data centers will become a priority for corporate customers, which will raise the bar for the entire industry. With the formation of the digital economy, investors are also engaging in a green energy revolution as they seek to create greener IT portfolios. Data center operators will invest in buying and building more sustainable products, from liquid cooling to underwater data centers.

Enterprises choose cloud infrastructure services over data center products

In 2020, enterprises spent $130 billion on cloud infrastructure services worldwide (an increase of 35%), which exceeds the $90 billion that enterprises spent on data center products. With the future in the hybrid cloud, businesses will continue to spend on cloud infrastructure services in 2021 compared, in most cases, to traditional data center solutions.

Peripheral Data Centers

In 2021, there will be a significant demand for peripheral computing, driven by various technologies, including artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and the emergence of 5G . Gartner predicts that 75% of enterprise data will be created and processed outside of a centralized data center or cloud by 2025. Companies such as Dell, HPE, Vertiv, AWS are investing in new peripheral capabilities, services, and vertical-specific reference peripheral architectures.^[18]

2020

Global data center market valued at $59.3 billion - ResearchAndMarkets

The volume of the global data center market at the end of 2020 was estimated by analysts at ResearchAndMarkets at $59.3 billion. The dynamics in comparison with 2019 is not specified, experts only announced growth, which, in their opinion, will continue.

According to experts' expectations, the market will grow by 13.4% annually and reach $143.4 billion by 2027. High rates are forecast in Canada (+ 11.8% per year), Germany (+ 10.6%) and Japan (+ 9.5%). At the same time, the Chinese market will increase in volume even faster - by 17.5% annually.

As for the American data center market, in 2020 it showed a volume of $16 billion. The following companies were among the world market leaders (listed in alphabetical order).

• 21Vianet Group;
• Amazon;
• Apple;
• AT&T;
• BT Global Services;
• Cogent Communications;
• Compañía Anónima Nacional Teléfonos de Venezuela;
• Cyxtera Technologies;
• Digital Realty Trust;
• DXC Technology;
• Equinix;
• Fidelity Information Services;
• Google;
• IBM;
• Microsoft;
• QTS Realty Trust;
• Reliance Communications;
• Servicios Alestra.

The researchers note that amid the high demand for their services, cloud providers continue to invest heavily in data centers. At the same time, corporate investments in infrastructure for its own data centers declined quarterly and fell by 6% by the end of 2020.

Lockdown 2020, which negatively affected almost all industries, stimulated the growth of demand for data center services and cloud services. The transition to a remote work format and the accelerated digitalization of business processes spurred the demand for computing resources, physical and cloud. In terms of demand, data centers have only won. At the same time, self-isolation has complicated the commissioning of new capacities, somewhat shifting the launch date.

Experts are confident that significant unsatisfied demand remains in the market. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, this is digitalization and avalanche-like growth of data that must be stored somewhere. Secondly, this is the spread of the cloud model of IT consumption, when enterprises abandon the development of their own infrastructure in order to focus on specialized tasks for themselves.

In their study, experts noted an increase in demand for data centers that have a minimal negative impact on the environment and environment. The so-called "green" data center offers similar features to a conventional data center, but features reduced power consumption and smaller footprint. Such projects are designed to minimize environmental impacts by identifying, planning and implementing environmental initiatives.

Among the main drivers of growth in the green data center market, researchers attribute the high demand for storage management tools, rising electricity costs and mass consumption.

If we talk about problems, then they are primarily associated with large initial costs for the construction of environmentally friendly data centers. In addition, the low awareness of companies about the advantages of such facilities and their insufficient flexibility in the process of operation are affected. Energy-efficient data centers can reduce operating costs and energy consumption to power the facility and entire infrastructure.

As cloud computing becomes highly energy efficient and increasingly dependent on renewable sources, other industries such as transportation, manufacturing and construction are expected to resort to green data centers to reduce their own emissions, ResearchAndMarkets expects.^[19]

Global investment in data centers reaches $187 billion

The capital expenditures of the owners of data centers for the modernization of their facilities and the construction of new data centers in 2020 reached $187 billion. This amount is comparable to investments a year ago, according to analysts at Dell'Oro Group.

According to them, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has led to a surge in demand for public cloud services, as a result of which hyperscale data center operators began to actively invest in expanding their network. However, due to the same pandemic that led to a reduction in office work, companies held back investments in their data centers focused on solving internal business problems.

Dell'Oro Group Research Director Baron Fung says the top 10 providers of hyperscale cloud services will grow faster than other data center players due to:

• the output of servers on Intel Ice Lake processors;
• Transition to a new generation of networks
• continued trend towards active construction of new data centers.

According to Omdia experts, most of the capital expenditures are spent on the purchase of IT equipment, including servers, storage systems (DSS), network and other devices. In 2020, such equipment occupied more than 71% of the investment budgets of data center operators. The second place in terms of share (19.5%) is occupied by the so-called physical infrastructure, including power grid equipment. The costs of mixing and construction account for approximately 9% of capital expenditures in the area of ​ ​ data centers.

By 2020, major American technology companies accounted for the main investments in data centers. This is followed by regional telecommunications and IT companies, which are able to occupy a significant share of the US market, the study says.^[20]

Hybrid computing models in data centers are one of the main trends

On January 16, 2020, it became known that organizations began to argue less and less about what was more profitable for use - local systems or the cloud. This issue, which has occupied the minds of senior executives over the past few years, has lost its relevance in 2020. For January 2020, companies are choosing hybrid architectures that combine public, private clouds and peripheral resources around the kernel with an updated configuration. This approach to managing data and computing resources is one of five innovative trends in data centers in 2020 that have been identified by Vertiv experts .

It was reported that, thanks to the increasingly popular hybrid architectures, organizations will be able to provide a high level of data security and respond to the ever-growing need to increase capacity and computing power at points close to the consumer. As part of an updated data ecosystem, connectivity and availability are becoming interrelated concepts, and seamless communications from core to cloud to peripherals are becoming increasingly valuable.

For January 2020, data centers are actively striving for balance: on the one hand, the industry is striving to meet high capacity and capacity requirements, and on the other, modern high-performance applications are stimulating significant changes in data centers of various types and sizes. At the same time, the speed of deployment becomes a critical factor in making technological decisions. It is he who will become decisive for investment and innovation in this area in 2020. This influence will be noticeable in various forms, but the suppliers of equipment for data centers clearly understood one thing: the current state of affairs will not suit anyone else. narrated by Rob Johnson, CEO of Vertiv

More information on hybrid computing and other trends is provided below:

• Hybrid architectures will be ubiquitous. While cloud computing will remain an important part of most companies' IT strategy, there has been some shift driven by companies looking to optimize the suite of available technologies and the cost of maintaining their applications. The growing popularity of hybrid architectures is evidence that the enterprise data center is still important and will not lose its relevance, even as its role is gradually shifting towards supporting a set of ITs that best meets the needs of today's enterprises.
• Deployment speed is a key factor in the "arms race." As differences in technology and system power become less apparent, data center and IT managers will begin to use different criteria when selecting equipment. In addition to price, one of the determining factors for decision-making will be the speed of deployment of computing resources. With the similarity of other indicators, management will increasingly make decisions taking into account the timing of implementation and launch. This is an optimal approach in the context of active transfer of computing to the periphery of modern distributed networks. Any delay in the provision of resources means denial of service and, accordingly, loss of profit.
• Average power per rack in a data center will show little growth, a sharp increase in the volume of modern applications and workloads involving the use of artificial intelligence (for example, for machine and deep learning), will create a need for high-performance computing. According to Vertiv experts, in 2020 they will appear in the defense industry, in enterprises engaged in advanced analytics, as well as in production. This will lay the groundwork for the ubiquity of HPC in 2021 and beyond. As of January 2020, the number of such racks is very insignificant against the general background, but this equipment may have unforeseen power and cooling problems that will need to be resolved. In response to the need for high-performance computing systems, direct liquid cooling technology is actively developing.
• Batteries as an investment in the future. In 2016, Vertiv experts suggested that they would DPCs start using, and lithium-ion batteries this forecast was fully confirmed. As of January 2020, lithium-ion technology holds a significant share of the battery market for. UPS This share is constantly growing - including due to the fact that such batteries are actively used at facilities. Their peripheries popularity is facilitated by compact size and minimal maintenance requirements. The next stage is to use the flexibility of lithium-ion and other innovative alternative battery technologies (for example, TPPL - thin plates made of pure lead) to reimburse them. In 2020, more and more organizations will begin selling energy the utilities stored in these batteries to utility companies for grid stabilization and peak load limitation. This will increase stability in the data center industry.
• International mutual influence. Silicon Valley in the United States has long been considered the center of the digital universe, which sets the direction for the development of data centers, but innovations began to be created in other countries. A parallel ecosystem with significant differences for January 2020 is being formed in China. In Europe, Asia and the South Pacific, data centers are developing differently from traditional practices, as local specialists have to solve regional-specific tasks related to data privacy, control and sustainability. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has become an incentive for serious information protection decisions worldwide. These challenges and increased focus on environmental issues are driving a different view of hybrid infrastructures, the value of local computing, and local storage. As of January 2020, in China, some data centers operate on servers modified by the manufacturer with a capacity of 240 V post. current - this makes it possible to increase efficiency and reduce costs. The transition to DC power is one of the long-standing promising targets for data centers located in the United States. It is easy to assume that other countries will soon adopt a model that is already used in the PRC for January 2020 .

2019

Investments in data centers amounted to $245 billion - Frost & Sullivan

In 2019, $244.74 billion was invested in the construction and expansion of data centers around the world, analysts at Frost & Sullivan said. They did not specify the dynamics, but said that spending on the development of data centers is increasing due to several factors, including:

• growing adoption and use of IoT and Big Data technologies;
• A hybrid model that combines cloud computing with traditional data centers
• strong data center market growth in emerging economies: Asia Pacific is expected to be the largest such market by 2025, leaving North America and EMEA behind.

The researchers cite peripheral computing, the construction and launch of 5G networks, as well as a growing number of artificial intelligence implementation projects as other factors contributing to active investment in data centers.

The development of data centers that provide peripheral computing is spurred by smart devices, smart homes, artificial intelligence, game and video streaming services, self-driving cars, as well as virtual and augmented reality.

The rapid use of artificial intelligence in data centers is pushing the demand for advanced electronics and specialists in AI solutions for applications and data center architectures.

The transition from corporate to cloud data centers and colocation services will gain momentum, as companies can cut capital and operating costs by abandoning investments in hardware and infrastructure programs, as well as reducing requirements for technical support and data center capacity, says Frost & Sullivan analyst Manoj Shankar. - In addition, 5G networks are bringing data processing closer to where this very data is collected, contributing to the increasing proliferation of micro and peripheral data centers and attracting investment in a new generation of data center technologies.

Shankar added that local data centers are gaining importance, since it is important for businesses to store confidential data in or near their own infrastructure in order to minimize the risks of information leakage.

By 2019, customers have even more opportunities to choose how to spend their IT budget and consume data center solutions. Such options are public cloud, hybrid cloud, proprietary data center, proprietary intelligent edge technologies (on-premium edge), servers or serverless technology.

Frost & Sullivan also points to strong demand for modular data centers, whose manufacturers, according to analysts, already need innovative solutions and advanced concepts that "provide additional flexibility and modularity."

Experts call the transition to renewable energy sources, which reduce carbon emissions, another trend in the data center market. The study also recommends that market participants focus on the development of data centers in developing regions, such as India and Southeast Asia, where the processes of large-scale data in 2019 were still in their infancy. In addition, analysts advise data center owners to actively cooperate with colocation and cloud service providers. Thanks to such partnerships, IT equipment manufacturers will have access to new data center construction markets and much-needed impetus, the Frost & Sullivan report said.

According to analysts, investments in data centers by 2025 will grow by almost 10% per year and will reach $432.14 billion by the end of this period.^[21]

Sales of data centers became record

data centers Sales in 2019 were record. We are talking about mergers and acquisitions () M&A in this market, according to a study by Synergy Research Group, released at the end of January 2020.

Data center M&A deals topped 100 in 2019, something that never happened in a year. Compared to 2018, the number increased by 6%, and compared to 2016 - more than 2 times. Over five years, by the end of 2019, about 500 mergers and acquisitions were recorded in the data center market.

Analysts called the "radical change" a 50 percent increase in the number of M&A transactions in the data center market with the participation of non-public investment companies. At the same time, public companies (mainly the owners of data centers themselves) in 2019 entered into 45% fewer transactions than in 2018.

Although the total number of transactions in 2019 increased, their volume in monetary terms decreased due to a 24% decrease in the average value of the transaction. The same decline was observed in 2018, and in 2017 a record figure for the average transaction price was recorded thanks to three contracts worth billions of dollars. The number of transactions worth from $1 billion decreased first in 2018, and then in 2019.

For the period from 2015 to 2019, the largest investors in the data center market were two of the world's leading call providers - Digital Realty and Equinix. In total, they accounted for more than 30% of the total volume of M&A transactions made over the specified period of time. In addition, Digital Realty is yet to complete its takeover of Interxion, which is set to be the industry's largest data hub.

Among other well-known data center operators that have shown high M&A activity in recent years, experts named the following companies : CyrusOne, Iron Mountain, Digital Bridge/DataBank, NTT, GI Partners, Carter Validus, GDS, QTS and Keppel.^[22]

5 reasons why data center costs will fall - Gartner

According to Gartner forecasts, the volume of world spending on data centers in 2019 will decrease by 2.8% compared to 2018 and will amount to $204 billion. Analysts cited five main reasons for this decline. Their data in mid-April 2019 was released by CRN.

Strong 2018

In 2018, the volume of the global data center systems market jumped by 15.5% to $210 billion. The growth rate was the highest among the segments of the IT industry. So 2019 is compared with strong in 2018.

We recorded a really big jump. In 2018, there was a big update of everything, including mainframes that help IBM, "says Gartner Vice President of Research John-David Lovelock, who has been studying the server market for more than 40 years. - We suspect that some purchases in Europe were made to resupply products due to Brexit-related uncertainty. We expected this update to continue to some extent in 2019.

Lower server prices

An important factor that will affect the fall in the data center market in 2019, analysts call the decline in average sales prices for servers, which, in turn, is caused by the adjustment of component cost strategies.

It is expected to increase the cost of "cloud" alternatives to equipment for data centers, which will spur the cost of corporate software, which in 2019 will reach $427 billion (an increase of 7.1% is expected).

At the same time, data center service providers are switching to new sales models like HPE GreenLake and Lenovo TruScale Infrastructure Services, in which users pay for directly used services rather than paying them upfront.

This financial game is designed to equalize server costs, take advantage of one of the benefits of cloud computing, and level the playing field. We saw the same thing when the cloud replaced software, when manufacturers selling licenses switched to subscriptions instead of offering pre-paid licenses and support services, Lovelock notes.

Dependence on the largest data center operators in the world and the USA

The situation in the global data center market is largely determined by the largest owners of such facilities, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft. The capital expenditures of these companies on data centers in 2018 turned out to be a record - $120 billion.

According to Gartner's forecast, approximately 30% of server costs in North America at the end of 2019 will fall on companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies. The remaining 70% is the share of third-party service providers, mainly cloud. For comparison, in Western Europe, corporate purchases will account for 45% of data center costs, in Latin America - 72%, in China - more than 90%.

Great competition

John-David Lovelock says companies have many more options for allocating IT budgets in 2019. You can switch to a cloud model - public, private or hybrid, build a local data center infrastructure, using servers or serverless technologies. All this is reflected in the cost structure.

Data Center Market Recovery Expected in 2020

Gartner expects global data center spending to resume growth in 2020: they will rise 1.7% to $207 billion. At the same time, the entire IT industry will grow stronger - by 3.6% to $3.93 trillion.

According to Lovelock, the data center market will be able to recover through boundary computing and modular data centers, which will gain popularity in 2020, as well as due to the growing demand for colocation services.^[23]

2018: World's hyperscale data centers reach 430 - Synergy Research

In 2018, the number of hyperscale data centers in the world increased by 11% compared to 2017 and reached 430, according to data from the analytical company Synergy Research Group.

The most new data centers in 2018 were opened in the Asia-Pacific region and EMEA countries (Europe, the Middle East, Africa). However, the United States still operates a total of 40% of such large facilities used for cloud and Internet services.

The US is followed by China, Japan, the UK, Australia and Germany, which account for about 30 % of hyperscale data centers of the global total.

In 2018, new data centers were launched in 17 different countries, and most of all in the United States and Hong Kong. Among the companies leading in the implementation of such projects, the first two places at the end of 2018 were taken by Amazon and Google, which opened more than half of the data centers for two.

The Synergy Research Group study is based on an analysis of the activities of the 20 largest providers of cloud and online services, including SaaS, IaaS, PaaS, as well as operators of search engines, social networks, online stores and playgrounds.

The report says that each of the 20 companies mentioned in it has an average of 22 large data centers. The widest networks of data centers belong to Amazon,, Microsoft Google and: IBM their facilities are located in at least 55 countries of the world in three of the four main regions (North and Latin America, Asia-Pacific, EMEA).

By the time the study was published (January 9, 2019), 132 more hyperscale data centers were in the planning or construction phase. There is no end in sight to the boom in the creation of data centers, said John Dinsdale, an analyst at Synergy Research Group.^[24]

2017

M&A costs hit $20bn - Synergy data

In 2017, the total amount of significant, M&A concluded by market participants, DPC reached $20 billion, significantly exceeding the total volume of similar transactions in 2015 and 2016. In addition, at the beginning of 2018, the operators data centers concluded, but have not yet completed the registration of four more large M&A deals with a total value of more than $2.6 billion.

Such data are provided in a report by the analytical company Synergy Research, published in January 2018.

Throughout 2017, on average, there was one large M&A deal per week. The largest transaction of the year was the purchase by the American company Digital Realty, the world leader in providing data center services, rival DuPont Fabros Technology for $7.6 billion. In addition, 2017 was marked by 4 more purchases worth more than $1 billion, made by the colocation providers Equinix, Cyxtera, Peak 10 and Digital Bridge.

It is also noted that of the 48 M&A deals concluded in 2017, the cost of 12 ranged from $100 million to $1 billion. In addition, the volume of another 31 transactions was within $100 million. For comparison, during 2015 and 2016, data center market participants made 45 mergers and acquisitions, of which only three transactions exceeded a billion dollars. The largest purchase in 2015-2016 was the acquisition of European data center colocation services provider Telecity Group by Equinix for $3.8 billion.

Between 2015 and 2017, the largest investors among data center market participants were industry leaders Digital Realty and Equinix. Together, they spent about $19 billion on the purchase of data center operators, and this amount does not include the acquisition of Equinix by the Australian company Metronode. Synergy also added that Equinix made acquisitions around the world, while Digital Realty focused on the United States and Europe.

Among other active buyers, experts listed company CyrusOne, Peak 10, Digital Bridge, NTT, Carter Validus, Iron Mountain, Cyxtera and Elegant Jubilee.^[25]

Data Center Reduction - IDC Data

The data center industry has been booming for years, but in April 2017, IDC analysts reported a sharp trend reversal. According to them, the number of data centers in the world is decreasing, as well as the area occupied by them.

According to experts, the consolidation of computing resources and the tendency to use leased server power were the main reasons for the changes.

According to IDC data published by Computerworld, the number of data centers in the world peaked in 2015 - then there were 8.55 million, after which the decline began. The number of data centers is expected to decrease to 8.4 million in 2017, with only 7.2 million remaining by 2021, down 15% from its peak.^[26]

A downward trajectory is also expected in terms of the area of ​ ​ data centers. It is reported that in 2013, data centers occupied approximately 148.6 million square meters. m, but against the background of the construction of large complexes by Amazon, Microsoft and Google, the area of ​ ​ data centers has increased. In 2017, it should reach 167 million square meters. m, but then analysts predict a decrease in the indicator due to the introduction of cloud services.

Another reputable research company, Gartner, recently reported no growth in the global data center systems market. According to Gartner Vice President John-David Lovelock, enterprises now prefer not to buy servers, but to rent server power from cloud service providers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft. Because of this, server purchases are falling, which negatively affects the entire segment of data centers.

According to Gartner estimates, in 2016, $171 billion was spent on the purchase of systems for data centers, including software and equipment, in the world, which is 0.1% less than in 2015. In 2017, the indicator will not change - the growth will be only 0.3%. In 2018 alone, global spending on data center systems should rise 1.2% to $173 billion. ^[27]

2016: The number of hyperscale data centers in the world has reached three hundred

According to the Synergy Research Group, the number of hyperscale data centers deployed around the world has reached 300. At the end of 2016, large companies such as Amazon, Google and Alibaba were opening new data centers in droves. Most of these facilities - about 45% of the total - are in the United States. In China and Japan, there are 8 and 7%, respectively. Further, the list of countries with the largest number of data centers used to operate cloud services and provide Internet access includes the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, Germany and India, which account for about 3-5% of sites.

Each of the 24 major data center operators featured in Synergy's analysis report has an average of 13 such facilities. The leaders are Amazon, Microsoft and IBM, which have data centers located in more than 40 countries in at least two of the four main regions (North and Latin America, EMEA, Asia-Pacific). Google and Oracle also have wide global data center networks. The rest of the companies have data centers mainly in the United States (for example, Apple, Twitter, Salesforce, Facebook, eBay, LinkedIn, Altaba (formerly Yahoo)) or China (Tencent Holdings, Baidu).

According to analysts, the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba, which previously owned data centers exclusively in the PRC, moved some of them to the United States. In addition, he opened new data centers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the UAE. Large players continue to invest in the data center market in the United States, but the number of new countries in which local players build their solutions is also growing.

2015

Data Center Market Maintains Growth as IT Industry Falls

According to the research company Gartner, in 2015 the volume of the global data center equipment market amounted to $171.2 billion, which is 2.9% more than a year earlier. Analysts expect growth to continue, while the IT industry is in decline.

In October 2016, Gartner published a forecast according to which in 2016 sales of systems for data centers on a global scale will increase by 1.3% compared to 2015 and reach $173 billion. In 2017, the cost of this equipment will rise by another 2% to $177 billion.

Data centers in the Gartner classification are the smallest segment of the global ICT industry, the volume of which in 2015 was measured at $3.5 trillion (6% less than a year earlier). This, in addition to sales of data center equipment, includes expenses for computers, software, IT services and telecommunications services.

Gartner reports that the growth of the data center market is driven by strong server demand in China and Western Europe, as well as an active cycle of enterprise network equipment upgrades in North America.

Technavio analysts consider the Asia-Pacific region to be the fastest growing market for data centers, where local government agencies and large corporations are increasingly paying attention to the importance of data centers. Leading data center operators in the region include NTT and China Telecom (China Telecom). The Asia-Pacific data centre market is expected to grow by 13% annually between 2016 and 2020, while the global one is predicted to experience an average annual rise of 11%.

According to Technavio experts, the global data center market is characterized by high competition, which translates into a struggle for customers, an increase in digital data and a growing need for computing power. The following companies consider the largest operators of data centers:

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Google
• Equinix
• Digital Realty
• Microsoft

Data centers caught up with greenhouse gas aviation

On September 25, 2015, GeSI (Global e-Sustainability Initiative) published a report on the impact of IT solutions on the environmental situation in the world. It turns out that data centers and aircraft emit approximately the same amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Due to the rapid growth of digital information, an increase in computing resources is required, but this entails an increase in energy consumption by data centers. Hence the harm to the environmental situation.

One query made on Google's search engine results in the release of about 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide. For each 10 minutes of watching videos on YouTube, 1 grams of CO2 are generated, and for each user of the Gmail mail service there are about 1.2 kg of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere annually. In the case of the social network Facebook, we are talking about 269 grams of harmful gas per user per year.

At first glance, these figures seem minuscule, but if you take into account the huge audiences of Internet services (for example, the number of Facebook users by September 2015 exceeds 1.4 billion people), then very considerable emissions are obtained. So, in 2013, Google's carbon footprint in terms of carbon dioxide gas exceeded 1.76 million tons. Most of the CO2 is allocated by data centers.

By September 2015, GeSI estimates that data centers account for approximately 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Aviation has the same indicator characterizing the negative impact on the environment. In both cases, a rapid increase in the carbon print occurs.

"The problem is exponential data growth," said Sophia Flucker, director of UK-based Operational Intelligence, which advises data centre operators on proper energy use. "While IT energy efficiency is improving and we can do more with less energy consumption, the need for it is still high."

In an attempt to solve the problem of increasing energy consumption in data centers, IT manufacturers use different methods. So, HP I decided to promote those servers Moonshot that are said to consume 89% less energy compared to standard systems. Other companies use renewable sources and smart energy distribution technologies to power data centers.^[28]

2014

3/4 of the colocation market in data centers is controlled by local players

In mid-April 2015, the analytical company 451 Research published some results of its research on the global market for data center colocation services (placing customer server equipment on provider sites). This segment of the IT industry is fragmented, and the leader controls less than 10% of global revenue.^[29]

According to experts, in 2014 the volume of the global colocation market in data centers amounted to $22.8 billion. The total area of ​ ​ equipment has reached 10.13 square meters. km

The market in question is highly fragmented: about 75% of revenues are received by small local players whose annual revenue from wholesale and retail colocation services does not exceed $500 million. Each such operator has at its disposal from one to three sites.

According to experts, in 2014 the volume of the colocation market in data centers amounted to $22.8 billion

The largest provider in monetary terms is Equinix, whose share in global revenue in 2014 was 8.5%. The second place was taken by Digital Realty with a 5.6 percent indicator, however, this company led the size of the data center area in operation.

Other major data center colocation service providers included Telecity/Interxion, Lumen Technologies (formerly CenturyLink), Level 3 Communications and Global Switch, whose market shares (by revenue) are estimated by analysts at 3.21%, 2.81%, 2.72% and 2.41%, respectively.

451 Research says local providers are finding it harder to compete with larger companies that are expanding regions of their presence. In this regard, consolidation will continue in the market, analysts are sure.

The research report also reports that by the end of the first quarter of 2015, 43% of the global data center area used for colocation by providers is in North America. The combined share of Asia-Pacific and EMEA countries (Europe, Middle East and Africa) is about 50%. Latin America occupies about 4.5% of its capacity.

Analysts predict that in the period from 2015 to 2017, the volume of the global market for data center colocation services will grow by 63% and reach $36 billion. The size of the occupied space by providers will reach 13.9 square meters. km

IDC predicts a reduction in the number of data centers of all types

The total number of data centers of all types in 2017 will grow to 8.6 million, and then begin to slowly decline - such conclusions are made by IDC in the Worldwide Datacenter Census and Construction 2014-2018 Forecast report. The changes will be caused by the fact that in 2016-2017. companies will begin to reduce the number of server rooms and cabinets in their internal data centers - but all other categories of data centers, especially those owned by service providers, will continue to grow. Data from November 2014

A decrease in the number of data centers does not mean a decrease in demand: with fewer facilities, the total area of ​ ​ data centers worldwide in 2018 will reach 1.94 billion square meters. feet (180 million square meters) - against 1.58 billion square meters. feet (147 million square meters) in 2013.

In the construction of data centers, IDC believes, mega-data centers will come to the fore - sites where the servers of large providers of colocation services and cloud services will be located. By 2018, their share (by area) in the new construction of data centers of service providers will be 72.6%, and 44.6% of the area of ​ ​ all new high-end data centers in the world (in 2013 - 19.3%). IDC does not explain what criteria megaData Centers should meet, but the AFCOM Data Center Institute classifies them as having at least 9,000 racks or with an area of ​ ​ approximately 21 thousand square meters. m.

For organizations, internal data centers and server rooms/cabinets have ceased to be just the place where their IT assets are located, IDC analysts say. Data centers today serve as the main point of interaction and information exchange with employees, partners and customers, as well as the basis for building new business models in which the efficient use of large amounts of data and the elasticity of computer resources are critical. Under such conditions, the construction and operation of data centers, as well as the management of IT assets, require a professional approach, this is not the work that can be done from time to time.

2012

Data Center Investments

A global study by DCD Intelligence showed that investment in data centers in 2012 grew by 22.1% compared to 2011: from $86 billion to $105 billion. The forecast for 2013 is 14%. [Data centers ^[30]

The maximum investment growth (22.5%) was noted in 2012 in the field of solutions for managing data centers and power supply systems for them, as well as uninterruptible power supplies, generators, cooling systems and equipment for ensuring safety and fire extinguishing. The volume of investments in these areas increased over the year from $40 billion to $49 billion. The IT equipment sector (including servers, storage systems, switches and routers) showed an increase of 16.7%, and investments here grew from $30 billion to $35 billion.

At the same time, DCD Intelligence experts note that the intensity of concern about the availability of electricity and the rise in prices for it (these topics have been in the top news about data centers in recent years) has decreased significantly at the global level. A sharp growth in the real estate market for data centers is also predicted. Last year, the area under them increased by 8.3% (from 24 million to 26 million m ²), and this year growth is expected at 19.2% (up to 31 million m ²).

The Asia-Pacific region demonstrated the most dynamic pace: total investment in data centers here increased in 2012 by 24.2%, and electricity consumption in them - by 48.6%. By comparison, data center power consumption in North America grew by only 5.3% during this period, with investment growth of 14%; in Latin America, energy consumption increased by 41.2%. The amount of investment in Latin American data centers amounted to $13.8 billion, and in North American - $44.1 billion. Investments in data centers in Europe grew by 13.6% over the year: from $40.5 billion to $46 billion.

Use by European companies

By order of Oracle, the research company Quocirca conducted 952 telephone interviews in the fall of 2012 about the use of data centers in 10 regions, including Russia. In addition to our country, the survey took place in European countries (Great Britain, France, Italy, Norway, etc.) and in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia and the UAE). This is the third similar annual study.

This time, the survey showed that companies are returning their data to corporate data centers. Turning to external commercial capacity is rather a short-term measure for a business spooked a year earlier by explosive data growth. In January 2012, after a similar survey, analysts noted a noticeable trend towards the use of external data centers.

A new study showed an increase in the share of respondents using only their own data centers by 19% - from 45% to 66%. At the same time, the share of organizations with a single own data center increased to 41% (26% in 2011). Several data centers were launched in 25% (previously in 19%). As for customers combining rental and ownership of capacities, the share of such organizations over the year decreased from 56% to 34%.

At the same time, judging by the study, the growth of the volume of data does not stop. The percentage of organizations that noted that they would need a new data center in the next 12 months increased from 22% to 26%. And the number of organizations that do not see the need for a new data center in the foreseeable future has decreased to 7% (8% a year earlier).

As noted in Oracle, in Russia customers do not need to return, because we traditionally prefer to create new own data centers. More than 90% of Russian respondents answered that they needed new equipment because the fleet was outdated. A year earlier, in addition to this, the main rationale for investing in corporate data centers was business growth, but now the renewal of the park began to play a noticeably large role. The number of high-load servers (utilization > 51% of equipment capacity) increased by 4% over the year, and medium-load servers (21% -50%) - by 5%.

The level of virtualization estimated in the survey also increased over the year. The share of organizations with which it is located within the boundaries of 10-29% has grown from 24% to 32%, and companies with a virtualization level of 30-49% are now 17% instead of 12% a year earlier. Number of companies with virtualization level <10% за год сократилось с 38% до 31%.

Data Center-Based Services

Customer interest in data center-based services (DPCs) is growing, but in general, in the global market for such services, dynamics and key indicators vary significantly from region to region, according to Gartner. The global trend of the global data center market is the transition to industrial services such as infrastructure services, IaaS and PaaS.

In North America, according to a Gartner study, hosting (42%) and IaaS services have achieved the highest level of adaptation among customers, while in the rest of the world data center outsourcing is the most popular (80%). According to Gartner, around the world, the driver for the growth of data center-based services is economic growth and an increase in the purchasing activity of small and medium-sized businesses. All this should lead to the creation of new models of service delivery at the macro geographical level.

North America

The data center outsourcing segment in North America reached $33 billion in 2011, while the web hosting and co-location segment reached $23 billion. This regional market has the highest rate of cloud service adaptation, accounting for 60% of the global public cloud services market. In addition, the US hosting market continues to concentrate all key innovations. In general, the market for industrial services based on data centers in North America is developing at an intensive pace, new offers are constantly emerging, for example, storage as a service.

Europe

The data center outsourcing segment in Europe reached $38 billion in 2011, while the web hosting and co-location segment reached $8.6 billion. The indicator of the level of adaptation of public cloud services here amounted to 22.9%. Previously, the European data center-based services market was highly fragmented and divided into many different regional markets, but since 2005, leading outsourcing companies have begun to open budget remote data centers, as well as develop infrastructure industrial services, relying primarily on SAP customers. This trend has especially intensified during the 2008 crisis and beyond.

Asia Pacific

The market for services based on data centers in this region in 2011 reached $10 billion, while the web hosting and co-location segment reached $2.5 billion. Adaptation of public cloud services accounted for 9.8% in Japan and 3% in other countries in the region. Japan and South Korea have the largest web hosting markets, while Singapore and Gon Kong are important regional hubs for multinational corporations. Other developed markets in the region include those in Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan. Several infrastructure vendors dominate the data center outsourcing market in this region, while many local providers operate in each country.

Forecast to 2016:10% average growth

According to the forecast of the analytical firm TechNavio, the average annual growth rate of the global data center market for the period 2012-2016. will be at least 10.7%. Growth will be stimulated by the tendency of companies to centralize their IT resources and switch to cloud services, although the increase in the cost of sites for data centers will somewhat slow down the growth of their number.

According to analysts, cloud services require service providers to have high-performance data centers (data centers), which will stimulate the growth of the global data center fleet. At the same time, TechNavio data show that today companies around the world are under significant pressure from regulators from different countries regarding the norms for data centers that are being introduced by governments to ensure the implementation of green technologies in solutions. As a result, modern data centers install advanced equipment that ensures high-performance operation and at the same time reduce electricity consumption. For example, according to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the use of cloud computing in the United States can reduce the electricity consumption of American companies by 87%. At the same time, the high cost of space rented under the data center inevitably leads to an increase in the services provided by the data centers.

TechNavio considers the following companies to be key players in the data center market: Avaya, Cisco Systems, Dell, EMC, Vertiv (formerly Emerson Network Power), Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Juniper Networks, NEC, NetApp, Rittal (Rittal) and Schneider Electric. Analysts note that although there are many players in the data center market as a whole, most of them are not universal, but "highly specialized," that is, they release products and services for a certain vertical segment of the market.

The largest regional market, according to TechNavio, is North America, although other regions are increasing their market shares very quickly, introducing new data centers.

Economic impact of data center downtime

When Internet users query search engines, shop on their favorite merchant websites, or communicate with friends through social media , all of this is possible through data centers. For example: the turnover of 40 billion euros in the segment of electronic sales over the weekend is more than the turnover in the Bulgarian economy. Given the popularity of the Internet and the activity of its users, the availability of a reliable data center infrastructure is becoming more important than ever. This year, humanity will create 1.2 trillion gigabytes (GB) of data, which is equivalent to 75 billion iPods with a capacity of 16 GB, that is, more than ten such players for each inhabitant of the planet.

The higher the dependency on data centers, the larger the impact of downtime. If all data center 509,147 fail 2.5 times (based on the average estimate) for 134 minutes, this will amount to 2,842,737 hours of downtime and will result in a loss of 320 billion euros per year. This amount would be enough to buy each resident of Munich a yacht.

"Experts": Russia is dangerous for the construction of data centers

In May 2013, Cushman & Wakefield published the rating of 30 countries of the world ranked by the degree of risk for those placed in them data centers (Data centre risk Index^[31] When compiling the rating, experts took into account both physical and economic and social factors in different countries. In the first place in terms of security for data centers in the end were, the USA top five also included,, and Great Britain. Germany Iceland Canada

In the last lines of the rating, you can see countries such as the Czech Republic, China, Mexico, Indonesia, India and Brazil. At the same time, Russia occupies a position directly in front of them - 24th place out of 30.

Rating criteria included, for example, energy availability, broadband connectivity, ease of doing business in a particular country, tax burden, legislative environment, political stability, opportunities for sustainable development, natural disasters, education and energy security, GDP per capita, inflation and water resources.

Specifically for Russia, which has sufficient energy resources, the problem, according to analysts, is a high percentage of inflation, political instability and the complexity of doing business.

By comparison, the UK was placed in 2nd place due to energy problems and, accordingly, energy insecurity. For the same reason, as well as due to sufficiently high wage rates, France and Germany could not become leaders, which, however, does not prevent them from being hubs for many data centers.

In Asia, the economy is developing very rapidly, but it still remains quite problematic. As possible difficulties in locating data centers in this region, there is a lack of government regulation of the industry and weak supply chains within the region. The situation in China remains quite difficult in terms of servicing data centers, but it may improve in the near future, experts say. Among Asian countries, Qatar is the safest for the data center - it took 10th place in the ranking.

See also

• TAdviser Overview: Commercial Data Centers
• Data Center (Data Center)
• Key Data Center-Based Services
• Colocation
• Russian Data Center Market
• Trends in the Russian data center market
• Cloud services (Russian market)
• Russian IaaS market
• What is a "green" data center?
• Data Center Economy Measurement
• Container Data Centers
• Data Center Technologies: Solid State Drives (SSDs)
• Top Trends in the Global Data Center Market
• Data Center Infrastructure (Global Market)

Notes