There is an opportunity to identify the next digital hubs and move with new speed and agility when developing new data center facilities. All of the drivers for disruption in the data center market require investments and builds to happen before the demand arrives. The ‘wait and see’ approach to data center development no longer matches the pace of change in the market.

The data center market is evolving rapidly with growing user demands, growing populations and the acceleration of digital transformation all playing a role. The response to Covid-19 and the sharp increase in remote working has naturally led to higher internet traffic than usual, with TeleGeography reporting an increase of 35% in global internet capacity.

The traditional approach to building and investing in data center expansion is focused on selling space and filling facilities as much as possible before ground is even broken. The challenge in smaller local markets is that there is a silent boom in demand on the horizon that will require significant data center capacity. If a data center build takes three years, it may be too late to support this growth with digital infrastructure.

We’ve just published our first eGuide ‘Build It and They Will Come: Accelerating Data Center Development to Deliver the Next Digital Hubs’. Download it here to gain more info about the drivers of change in the data center market.

To create the next digital hubs, data center builds and investment must be proactive and driven by market dynamics, not just who needs rack space now. It requires a deeper analysis of market opportunities and a process-driven approach to assessing and pursuing opportunities. This enables an organisation to make data center investments based on environmental modelling rather than geographic territories and traditional operating regions. It frees them to invest in disparate markets that may not appear to have commonalities but are unified by their characteristics and likelihood of being digital hubs.

When an organisation takes this approach to the data center market, they can disrupt the market by moving with greater speed and agility than competitors. They can enter overlooked markets and create an immediate first mover advantage. The organisation can focus on the needs of global hyperscalers in the local market while enabling local cloud service providers, content companies, OTT players and enterprises to benefit from world-class digital infrastructure.

To deliver the next digital hubs, data center providers have to make bold moves in unique markets and serve the demand of the future – not of today. It takes vision and insight to recognise trends, then take action that will benefit a growing number of local markets.

We are delivering a single consistent quality of service and customer experience across our data center facilities to enable customers to rapidly scale-up in local markets globally. Digital transformation and increasingly edge computing will rely more and more on robust, reliable and local data center facilities that are close to end users and can support application performance.

Download our guide to get more insights into data center market developments and discover how we plan to build a foundation for local innovation: