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The UK's data centre industry is expected to enjoy a period of strong growth in 2017, with trends such as cloud computing set to drive demand as more firms become willing to shift their operations away from on-premises solutions.
Mitul Patel, associate director for data centre systems at CBRE, stated in an article for V3 that this will be particularly good news for providers based in London, which accounts for around 80 per cent of the country's data centre capacity. He suggested this dominance is unlikely to change in the near future.
"London is the largest colocation data centre market in Europe by total supply, and always has been," he stated. "During 2017, the market will grow by a further eight per cent to ten per cent, in line with recent trends."
This is significant, as the capital is already home to 384MW of data centre capacity - some 44 per cent of the total across major European markets, which includes the likes of Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Paris.
The continued drive towards cloud services will be one key factor in London's continued success in 2017 and beyond. "The sector has never been so reliant on such a small number of companies providing so much of the take-up of IT power," Mr Patel said. "If these companies continue to be active in the UK, then the London market will continue to be successful."
In the past, many companies have been discouraged from migrating mission-critical applications and infrastructure to cloud services, with concerns over governance, data protection and customer service among their biggest worries.
However, data centre providers have been working hard to develop solutions that answer these questions and reassure businesses of the security and reliability of their offerings.
As a result, Mr Patel said: "We expect cloud demand to grow strongly for the foreseeable future as more corporates integrate cloud solutions into their overall IT architecture. This will in turn drive growth in the data centre sector."
He added that the UK's technology industry is expected to adapt quickly to any concerns arising from Brexit in order to maintain the country's position as a major global marketplace. However, matching the EU's incoming General Data Protection Regulations post-Brexit will be vital in ensuring this continued success.
If the UK becomes non-compliant with EU data protection regulations, it will risk losing customers, as the free flow of data across international borders would be negatively impacted.
Mr Patel also noted that the supply pipeline in London is strong, which will be important as companies continue to see their data volume and bandwidth requirements rise. As businesses rapidly increase their usage of applications that depend on cloud service providers, this will ensure the UK remains a key marketplace for data centre solutions.
"Further ahead, there will be a resurgence in demand for data centre space from more traditional corporate sectors," he continued. This will strengthen London's digital ecosystem, maintaining its dominance as a European data centre destination."
