The firm’s analysis of Europe’s data centre markets presents a new picture of activity within the region, because it includes retail and wholesale colocation, as well as built-to-suit, enterprise and hyperscale data centre development.
Most stark is the rapid segmentation of the market into three distinct tiers. The firm said that the top-tier markets include London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Dublin.
London and Frankfurt both follow a similar pattern of being large wholesale data centre markets with substantial phased capacity that can respond and absorb large customer requirements.
Dublin’s data centre market has always been an enterprise and hyperscale hub and Amsterdam is undergoing a dramatic shift from a large retail data centre market to one which is now majority enterprise hyperscale, driven by the most part by the development of hyperscale campuses by Microsoft and Yondr in Middenmeer, and Google in Eemshaven.
“The second-tier markets comprise a mixture of fast-growing data centre locations (Madrid and Copenhagen), and the once top tier market of Paris,” analysed the company in a written report.
“Both Madrid and Copenhagen have seen their growth propelled by vast developments by Amazon in Madrid, and by Facebook, Google and Apple in Copenhagen.
“Paris has struggled to attract major new hyperscale activity, although we expect that this will change in the near future as the general trend of regionalisation continues.”
In regards to the third-tier markets, Knight Frank said there are no less interesting in their activity, with Zurich, Berlin and Warsaw showing huge growth due in part to the expansion of cloud regions.
“The opportunity for built-to-suit operators to invest in these markets is also greater than in more established markets due to the high barriers to entry associated with large scale deployments in new markets (with hyperscalers normally opting to work with local providers when moving into new markets),” added Knight Frank.
