Ireland’s data hosting market will grow by 18pc a year between now and 2016, outpacing the UK and mainland European locations, according to a new report by global analyst firm 451 Group.
International technology analysts 451 Research, commissioned and supported by GconnTec with the support of data centre operators that include Interxion and TelecityGroup Ireland, produced this independent report and scorecard which rates Ireland against the world on a scorecard of criteria. What emerges is a portrait of Ireland as a launching point to the world.
The report assessed Ireland’s suitability as a location for hosting digital assets, objectively assessing how Ireland performs across a number of factors including economy, green energy, workforce and government support.
The report confirmed Ireland’s tax regime is important in attracting businesses competing in an increasingly commoditised business environment.
Ireland’s temperate and windy climate provides the ability to significantly lower the cost associated with running a data centre. In addition, Ireland has also been aggressively exploring the use of renewable sources of power, which provide cleaner and less expensive power options.
Low-latency location
Data centre providers operating in Ireland have suggested that the latency between Ireland and the UK is better than between Iceland and the UK, or even Scandinavia and the UK.
Ireland is well positioned to service the growing demand for ‘big data’ and analytics workloads with a growing data centre footprint, access to high-speed and low-latency networks and an increasingly skilled workforce in addition to significant government investment.
Another factor buoying up the data hosting business in Ireland – as emphasised by the continued jobs investment by digital and internet players – is Ireland’s young, technologically savvy and multi-cultural workforce.
“For some time we have believed very strongly that Ireland is an ideal location for data hosting and we are pleased that this has been endorsed so robustly in this report,” said Interxion Ireland managing director Tanya Duncan.
“A combination of economic and political stability, an attractive tax regime, a commitment to renewable energy, infrastructure competitiveness and a skilled workforce puts Ireland firmly on the global map as a world-class hosting location.”
The report’s authors said Ireland is a perfect location for data centres being built by digital giants like Microsoft and Google to host their content.
“Ticking each box on a list of requirements – diverse and resilient connectivity to the UK and EMEA, green energy, youth and skill of workforce, tax benefits, costefficiency and economic risk – this small island emerges as an international powerhouse for data hosting. It’s little surprise that giants like Google, Amazon and Microsoft have been established in Ireland for years,” 451 Group said.
