Frankfurt leads in strong start for data centre take-up

Cloud computing has again been the main driver for new data centre requirements, as businesses seek to alleviate pressure on existing IT capacity.
Despite the potential flexibility in location choice cloud computing can offer, at present end users prefer to house their data and infrastructure within easy reach of their core business. Established European data centre hubs are benefiting seeing new business emerge from both corporates and cloud providers. In particular, locations with strong connectivity such as Amsterdam and Frankfurt are attracting increased attention with Frankfurt recording the majority share of take up in Q1.

In London, growing business confidence is translating into new demand for data centre services with corporate appetite toward outsourcing IT increasing. In Q1, London’s retail operators can reflect on an encouraging start to the year with the highest amount of quarterly take up since 2011.
CBRE’s quarterly Data Centre MarketView, which analyses the five biggest markets in EMEA (London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Madrid) also indicates that the rate of new supply coming to market will slow in 2013. This follows a record year of new build and expansion activity in 2012.

Andrew Jay, Executive Director, Data Centres, EMEA, CBRE said: “Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London are outperforming Paris and Madrid in the data centre market, where a substantial improvement in business sentiment is still some way off. London and Frankfurt’s positions as strategic financial centres, alongside Amsterdam’s reputation as a TMT hub means that we expect these markets to continue to attract consistent demand over the coming year.”