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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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