Market Trends of Belgium Data Center Physical Security Industry
Video Surveillance is Anticipated to be the Largest Segment
• Data centers are home to sensitive and vital data, which makes security their highest priority. Data center operators help ensure that security standards and regulations are respected through video surveillance systems, which monitor access, detect unauthorized entry, and maintain compliance.
• In September 2023, the source of the outage was Proximus' data center in the Brussels building in Evere. The fire was discovered around 9 a.m., and staff were briefly evacuated. Such incidents can occur in any data center, damaging the data stored at the facility. Therefore, the use of physical security in data centers will increase during the forecast period.
• Further, the growth in the development of new data centers in Austria would trigger market demand. For instance, in July 2023, Google applied to build a new data center campus in Belgium. Farciennes Mayor announced for the first time that the search and cloud company plans to develop three facilities in the Ecopol industrial park in Wallonia. The campus area will be approximately 53,000 square meters (570,500 square feet). Construction is expected to begin at the end of the year and open in 2025. The first phase will cover approximately 7,500 square meters (80,730 square feet).
• Further, in October 2023, Belgian data center operator LCL invested EUR 120 million (USD 127.6 million) to expand its facilities in Brussels. The company announced it will invest EUR 100 million (USD 106 million) in two expansion projects in Aalst and Diegem, north of the Belgian capital, and EUR 20 million (USD 21.2 million) in sustainability initiatives. Thus, the growth in data center facilities will increase market demand in the coming years.
IT & Telecommunication is Anticipated to be the Fastest Growing Segment
- Belgium's ICT market is bolstered by a solid DSL telecom infrastructure developed by the majority state-owned operator, Proximus, and a pervasive co-axial cable infrastructure (particularly in Flanders) developed by the regions and communities. Effectively, 100% of households have access to the internet.
- 78% of users have broadband subscriptions at 30 Mbps or more significant. With three mobile operators Proximus, Orange, and Telenet -- 4G has reached 92% penetration countrywide. Proximus and Orange are working on 4.5G and 5G infrastructure to be rolled out in 2020. Proximus is considering implementing Fiber-To-The-Home. Fiber-To-The-Curb is already widespread.
- The Belgian government is making significant investments in developing its IT infrastructure. Incentives are available in the Flanders region for fields requiring a lot of research, such as ICT and cloud computing.
- These include the investment deduction for R&D, which is equal to 20.5% of the depreciated amount or 13.5% of the acquisition value of the qualified asset. Additionally, up to 85% of a firm's net earnings from innovation are tax exempted. Such aspects are expected to drive the demand for data storage and processing facilities.
