by Brianna Crandall — June 7, 2017 — Market research company Technavio has announced its latest report on the global data center construction market. This analysis discusses the major drivers and key emerging trends in the market, including the move toward “green” data centers, with an increase in the purchase of renewable energy, and the growing use of free cooling techniques. The global market is currently valued at more than USD 54 billion and is expected to reach $74 billion by 2021, says Technavio.
Market drivers
According to the report, the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the primary drivers of growth in the global data center construction market. The fast-gaining acceptance of connected devices such as connected cars, connected homes, connected health services, and smart cities is generating a huge amount of data. To deal with this increased capacity of data, numerous industries like manufacturing, utilities, retail, automotive, and social media are adopting IoT techniques.
It has been observed that over the next four years, IoT-enabled devices will raise data center traffic by about 40 times and accelerate the development of large data centers, particularly Internet service providers (ISPs) and social media organizations, which will again drive the construction of data center facilities in the next few years, notes the report.
Geography
In terms of geography, the Americas region led the global data center construction market during 2016 and is expected to continue the dominion during the forecast period as well, driven by factors such as the rapid installation of data center facilities and better tax incentives for the development of data centers in the United States.
According to Abhishek Sharma, a lead analyst for data center research at Technavio:
Almost all states in the U.S. offer tax incentives to organizations that are establishing data center facilities. This trend can be witnessed worldwide in a majority of countries.
When an enterprise chooses a location for setting up a facility, it considers factors such as availability of power, connectivity, and tax incentives offered by the local government. If an enterprise can create jobs for the native population by establishing a data center, it can earn more tax incentives.
Increase in purchase of renewable energy
According to the report, growing concern about electricity consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is prompting vendors in the market to focus increasingly on green data centers that are powered by renewable sources of energy. Use of renewable energy sources, energy-efficient infrastructure, and waste recycling are some of the methods implemented in green data centers.
Most of the mega data centers are being powered by renewable resources such as wind energy and solar panels, points out the report. Google, for instance, is planning to power all its data center operations using renewable sources of energy by 2017.
Growing use of free cooling techniques
According to the report, free cooling solutions can reduce power consumption of data centers by more than 40 percent. Regions that have favorable climatic conditions for free cooling are adopting this technique of using outside air for cooling the data center for almost the entire year. Airside free cooling and waterside free cooling are the two types of free cooling techniques used by data centers.
Key vendors
The report offers an analysis of key vendors such as AECOM, Arup Group, Corgan, DPR Construction, Gensler, HDR, Page Southerland Page, Holder Construction Group, Jones Engineering Group, Structure Tone, Syska Hennessy, and Turner Construction.
This research report presents an in-depth analysis and market shares and sizes of the sub-segments and geography, including a detailed analysis of the market by end-user, electrical construction, mechanical construction and tier type, as well as an analysis of the key companies. The study also provides a detailed analysis of key drivers, challenges, and opportunities influencing the market.
The Technavio report, titled Global Data Center Construction Market 2017-2021, is available for purchase from the company’s Web site, under its Data Center portfolio.
Technavio also offers a free sample of this report, and says it customizes reports by other regions and specific segments upon request.
