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Data Center News Roundup: Global Projects Unveiled, Data Center Financing Guide
In this week's top data center news, more developments are planned around the world, and we take a closer look at data center financing.
James Walker
February 23, 2024
5 Min Read
pichetw / Alamy Stock Photo
With data center news moving faster than ever, we want to make it easy for industry professionals to cut through the noise and find the most important stories of the week.
The Data Center Knowledge News Roundup brings you the latest news and developments across the data center industry – from investments and mergers to security threats and industry trends.
To keep up to date with all things data centers, subscribe to the Data Center Knowledge newsletter to get content straight to your inbox.
Partnerships and Developments
This week saw a series of high-profile data center development announcements, with Equinix unveiling an ambitious $390 million expansion plan in Africa.
The Nasdaq-listed operator will invest $390 million in Africa over the next five years, building data centers and expanding current operations in South Africa and the west of the continent.
Equinix is also pursuing opportunities in East Africa and will potentially spend more to build or acquire there, recently appointed managing director for South Africa, Sandile Dube, said in an interview.
Prime Data Centers is hoping to build a $1.3 billion data center campus in Caldwell County, Texas, the Austin Business Journal reported. Officials are due discuss the proposal on March 12.
Private equity firm Starwood Capital Group is investing $850 million in Echelon Data Centres. The move is aimed at allowing the operator to further expand in Ireland and the UK.
Echelon currently has 140 MW of capacity that is either operational or in late-stage construction, including a fully pre-committed 91 MW hyperscale campus in Dublin.
In the UK, Virtus Data Centres has announced plans for a new campus in Saunderton, Buckinghamshire. The current design comprises four data centres capable of delivering IT capacity of 75 MW to meet the escalating demand from cloud and AI applications.
Global Switch, meanwhile, has received full planning approval for its third London data center. Once complete, the 27,000 sq.m London South facility will offer 40 MW of IT power capacity and complement the company’s existing London East and London North data centers.
Elsewhere in Europe, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed an announcement by Microsoft that it would invest almost $3.5 billion in Germany to expand its data center capabilities. In France, construction firm Mercury has announced the handover of Digital Realty’s PAR9 data centre, marking a “significant milestone” in the ongoing development of the operator’s Paris Digital Park.
In Asia, Yondr Group has struck a deal with Japanese conglomerate Marubeni Corporation to bring a series of data centers to Japan. The new partnership will focus on delivery of an initial 3 GW site in western Tokyo with the intention of additional sites being added in the near future.
Data Center Financing Guide
Amid the flurry of new data center developments, there’s no better time to jump into the world of data center financing.
Financing any type of business venture can be complicated – much more so than, for example, financing the purchase of a home. But in many respects, data center financing takes the cake when it comes to complexity.
There are multiple approaches to structuring data center financing, and many variables to consider if you want to avoid missing out on special funding opportunities such as sustainability incentives.
Our primer on data center financing covers best practices and strategies to secure the best deals and opportunities.
Outage Watch
Julius Baer Group, Switzerland’s largest wealth manager, suffered a crash of its core banking system following a suspected data center issue that took services offline.
According to a report from Bloomberg, the bank confirmed that a technical outage of its IT systems late afternoon on February 16 meant some clients were unable to make payments, trade, or view their portfolios.
Citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg said the glitch at Julius Baer resulted from an issue between the bank’s IT systems and a data center that broke down.
This latest financial services outage follows the widely reported disruption at DBS Group Holdings and Citigroup in October last year.
About 2.5 million Singapore payment and ATM transactions couldn’t be completed during DBS Group Holdings and Citigroup’s outage due to a data center malfunction.
The Premise Remains
And finally, have you ever wondered how ‘on-premise’ slipped into the tech lexicon? The term is so widespread in the cloud and data center industry that it’s easy to overlook the fact that ‘on-premise’ is a grammatically inaccurate truncation of the term ‘on-premises.’
And while the casual observer might question the importance of a single missing letter, there are still some who marvel at the longevity and great heights that ‘on-premise’ has achieved.
For an industry so focused on precision, it is curious that the use of ‘on-premise’ has become so widespread. But when did this syllable-shortened alternative slip into common parlance? And does its ongoing usage really matter if the meaning remains?
Take a deep dive into the 'on-premise' origin story to learn more.
Other Great Reads on DCK This Week
Will AI Revolutionize Data Center Infrastructure Management? Maybe Not. Excitement over AI in data center infrastructure management (DCIM) is understandable, but operators shouldn't bank on transformative changes just yet.
How to Optimize Your Data Center Against Ransomware Attacks. Here are measures you can take beyond standard best practices to protect your data center against ransomware attacks.
Microsoft Will Use Intel to Manufacture Home-Grown Processor. Microsoft is looking to secure a steady supply of semiconductors to power its data center operations.
Data Center Rental Boom Mitigating Property Write-Downs. Corporate property firm Segro says strong rental growth in the warehouse and data center space is starting to offset wider market challenges.
US Awards $1.5bn for New York Computer Chip Plant. Billion-dollar grant will help GlobalFoundries build a new semiconductor factory to strengthen homegrown US hardware capabilities.
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