5 Trends Driving Data Center Growth

The Data Center Market

According to a JLL 2018 Research Report, five trends are currently powering data center activity and growth in 2018, and they are expected to continue. These include:

1. Industry M&A is here to stay with 48 deals totaling nearly $20 B happened in 2017 and will continue to expand as additional scale, services and expertise are sought.
2. Foreign interest in the U.S. will pick up speed as international enterprises and providers look to build a footprint for U.S. customers.
3. “Gateway to the cloud” and add-on services are on the rise as hybrid models become the norm in 2018 and beyond.
4. Look for growth in "Edge Markets" as enterprises’ seek to be near end-users, driving an uptick in growth in smaller satellite markets.
5. Growing complexity, users, data center solutions, and facilities are driving the need for remote monitoring, cloud-based management and customized deliverables.

Forbes magazine shared a similar view that M&A is going to continue. With 600 operators of data centers in North America, there have been a lot of mergers and acquisitions and more is expected.

The same article also cites Cushman and Williams estimates that significant growth will come from retrofitting existing properties instead of ground-up development. Top markets to watch include Northern Virginia, Texas, Chicago and Silicon Valley given their high-level access to utilities, transportation, and engineering talent.

Silicon Valley, home of IEM, is mentioned among the largest markets in the West because of its proximity to global tech industries and the availability of engineers to manage servers.

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If you are looking for power distribution solutions for your data center, contact IEM today. With clients like Amazon, Apple, HP, and others – we built the power that built Silicon Valley. And we can do it for you.