EXPERT OPINION
Outlook and Forecast 2019 – 2024, the
data centre construction market in the
Middle East and Africa is expected to reach
US$1billion during the forecast period.
The current trend of the world’s biggest
technology firms building data centres in
the Middle East is a result of the countries
in the region diversifying their economies.
Digital Transformation initiatives across
the public and private sector are driving
the need to build state-of-the-art data
centres to support the transformation
journeys of enterprises.
New technologies and business
transformation tools ranging from
multi-cloud, Internet of Things (IoT),
Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI)
to Machine Learning (ML) – all of which
depend on high-performance networks
– are fundamentally changing the way
data is being produced, shared and
analysed, requiring a rethink in data
centre strategy and architecture, driving
demand for local clouds.
Digital business leaders today are
leveraging interconnection to solve the
complex integration and control challenges
of an increasingly distributed infrastructure.
Equinix’s second annual market study,
the Global Interconnection Index (GXI),
concluded that interconnection or direct
and private traffic exchange between key
business partners is becoming the de
facto method for companies to operate in
today’s digital world.
If you take a more detailed look at how
the design of today’s interconnected
IT is evolving then we see that due to
legislation, data security considerations in
country and network latency performance,
some data sets and workloads need to live
in country, localised to those governments,
people and/or enterprises using it. On
a regional level, we are seeing that
hyperscalers, network services providers
and general ICT providers are building a hub
where these data sets and applications are
living and serving regional demand.
As more Middle East businesses
embrace multi-cloud and hybrid cloud
infrastructures, greater demand for
private interconnection is expected
between businesses and the cloud and
IT provider. Proximity between private
and public cloud environments enable
organisations to lower latency and
networking costs. This is where we see
private interconnection coming into play
with many of our customers.
Hugh Dignum, Head of Data Centre
Products at Injazat
As we welcome the Fourth Industrial
Revolution and related technologies
including AI, IoT and cloud computing,
companies are becoming more digital –
from operations to services. To facilitate
a continuous move to digitisation,
companies require reliable, secure and fast
infrastructure to hold their data and query
it to enable their processes when required.
Data centres are the heart of any IT
and Operational Technology (OT)
infrastructure in any sector including
banks, energy, Internet, transport, health
and entertainment. Every industry relies
on fast and secure applications that a
modern data centre can provide today.
Jeroen Schlosser, Managing Director,
Equinix MENA
www.intelligentdatacentres.com
With SMEs – which make up around 90%
of Middle East companies – joining the
digitisation bandwagon, there is a massive
requirement for keeping data in a safe and
efficient environment. Data centres have
historically helped companies increase
Hugh Dignum, Head of Data Centre
Products at Injazat
their revenues and profit margins while
also presenting risks such as system
downtime that can adversely affect
company operations.
Moreover, a data breach in an
organisation is known to cause an
absolute financial, operational and
reputational catastrophe for the company;
the impact of which will be felt by their
customers and supporting organisations.
Therefore, it is crucial to ensure a safe,
reliable, secure and robust data centre at
the core of a company’s infrastructure.
THE CURRENT
TREND OF THE
WORLD’S BIGGEST
TECHNOLOGY
FIRMS BUILDING
DATA CENTRES IN
THE MIDDLE EAST
IS A RESULT OF
THE COUNTRIES
IN THE REGION
DIVERSIFYING
THEIR ECONOMIES.
Issue 08
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