Market Trends of Dublin Data Center Industry
Mega Size Data Centers are Expected to Hold a Significant Share
- Mega data centers house large amounts of computer systems and associated components. These centers can operate and manage a carrier's telecommunication network or provide data center-based applications directly to the carrier's customers. Some of the key challenges facing modern data centers include stove-piped islands of application, issues related to meeting standards for data centers, and noise concerns. To overcome these challenges, data center transformation can take a step-by-step approach through integrated projects carried out over time. Additionally, implementing raised floors, organizing cables overhead, or raising the flooring and implementing airflow management solutions can be used to improve performance and energy efficiency.
- Mega data center telecom applications use large data centers to operate and manage telecommunication networks and provide data center-based applications directly to carriers. These data centers typically use 2 or 4 post racks to organize and store equipment, and optical transceiver sales to mega data center applications have been on the rise. In addition to telecommunications infrastructure standards, international standards like EN50600 and ISO22237 and organizations like the Uptime Institute have created tier classifications to ensure data center availability and fault tolerance. Factors like site selection, environmental control, electrical power, and low-voltage cable routing are important considerations in data center design.
- Dublin is the location of both Google and Microsoft's mega data centers. Google's data center in Dublin is one of its largest, covering an area of 51,000 square meters and employing approximately 400 people. It uses Hamina, Finland, as its backup facility. Microsoft's mega data center in Dublin was the first data center and has since undergone multiple expansions. Both Google and Microsoft's data centers in Dublin use advanced technologies to reduce energy consumption and environmental impact while maintaining high levels of performance and reliability to support the companies' global operations.
- Dublin has become a popular location for data centers due to its favorable business environment and access to international fiber networks. Some major companies with data centers in Dublin include Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Digital Realty. The expansion of data centers in Dublin has caused concerns about strains on the nation's energy grid, but efforts have been made to address these concerns through strong renewable energy goals and the implementation of new district heating systems powered by excess heat from the data centers.
- According to GSMA Intelligence, Ireland had 4.89 million cellular mobile connections at the beginning of 2022. Between 2021 and 2022, the number of mobile connections in Ireland increased by 22,000 (+0.4%). The mega data center is a cloud storage and file hosting service that offers mobile applications for both Android and iOS. However, it is important to note that MEGA's mobile apps are mainly used for accessing files stored on their cloud rather than for data center management or mobile application development
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Tier 4 is Expected to Hold a Significant Share of the Market
- Dublin has several tier 4 data centers that provide the highest level of redundancy and uptime. Some of the tier 4 data centers in Dublin include Equinix DB3 and DB4. These are two of the largest data centers in Ireland and provide over 500,000 square feet of colocation space. Tier 4 certified, they offer top-level security, power, and connectivity. Similarly, Digital Realty Profile Park, a 10-acre campus in Dublin, offers secure, reliable, and scalable data center solutions. It is also Tier 4 certified and offers many interconnection options. CyrusOne Dublin, This data center features top-notch security, redundancy, and connectivity. It has over 22,000 square feet of colocation space and offers high-speed network options.
- The Tier 4 certification is currently the highest classification among data center facilities. These data centers require huge capital compared to other tiered data centers and are usually present in developed economies.
- Companies like NTT and DCI have shown interest in having tier 4 facilities in the future. Still, significant investments and expansions have been more toward tier 2 and 3 data centers. Tier 4 providers have redundancies (2N+1) for every process and the data protection stream. No single outage or error can shut down the system and provide 99.9% uptime annually, the highest guaranteed uptime. The level 4 infrastructure should have at least 96 hours of independent power to qualify in this tier. This power should not be connected to any outside source and should be entirely proprietary.
- This tier also ensures optimized efficiency. The servers are housed in the most physically advantageous locations. This drastically extends the life of the hardware. If temperature and humidity are kept consistent, one can gain great efficiency. Even the backups and dual power sources are treated like primaries. A tier 4 data center can require up to 3 to 1 of the space required to facilitate the IT footprint. For tier 4, the kW cost component is USD 25,000/kW of the redundant UPS capacity for IT.
- According to the European Commission, Ireland's annual aggregate digital economy and society index (DESI) score was 62.74 in 2022, an increase from the 2017 index score of 41.34. Tier 4 is considered an enterprise-level service. Companies without international reach and consistently high web traffic do not usually require tier-4 facilities. Tier 4 has technological advancements, such as AI, IoT, and 5G, which are leading the digital transformation. Various industry sectors, such as government, finance, media, and manufacturing, are starting to demand advanced data centers with high reliability.
