The Nordic region is set to benefit from significant data centre
investment over the next three years, of an estimated €3.3billion with
more than 49% derived from overseas Internet players.
Findings of a new report by BroadGroup, Data Centre Nordics,
covering Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, and 112
operators, suggest that the market in third party data centres will
increase by almost two and a half times in m2 space and triple MW power
requirements from current levels by the end of 2017. Denmark benefits
hugely through the construction of a vast new Apple data centre in
Viborg, central Jutland.
The region's attractiveness as a data
centre location relies on a mix of lower cost and taxes for an abundance
of renewable energy particularly hydro-electric and wind power,
incentives offered by inward investment agencies, highly educated
workforce and standards of governance.
Industrial electricity
pricing in the Nordic Region remains the lowest in the EU-28 countries.
The report finds that energy providers range as low as Euro €0.03 per kW
Hour, excluding taxes, with the Nord Pole (Ulea) region in Northern
Sweden and Western Norway offering the lowest electricity costs for Data
Centre facilities.
Overseas investment by the likes of Google,
Apple, Yandex and Facebook have strongly impacted the region and in some
cases influenced the emergence of digital eco systems. However the
recent announcement by Norwegian operator Lefdal which proposes a 120k
m2 facility underlines investment by local players can be substantial
and is likely to continue.
With business models largely focused
on delivering colocation, hosting and cloud services, the number of
wholesale providers remain rare. Telcos still dominate in terms of
number of facilities but as new players and entrants build out through
to 2017, their market share, with the exception of TeliaSonera, will
diminish.
"The Nordic Region is set for growth with new demand,
build and market entrants," commented Philip Low, managing director,
BroadGroup. "Lower power costs, abundant resources of green energy,
local and international investment, connectivity, taxation incentives,
and natural cooling efficiencies present a formidable argument for
consideration in the international IT deployment plans of any global
enterprise."
The report highlights profiles of many of the key
data centre players, energy companies, and fibre providers and is
available at www.broad-group.com
BroadGroup will be hosting the first Datacloud Nordic conference in Oslo on October 15th. For more information and to register, visit http://www.datacloudnordic.com.