In recent years, data centres have become a profitable business in Ireland. Multinationals like Microsoft, Google and Amazon have rooted their data-storage sites across the country, leaving Ireland in the unique position of having all of the top-five international IT cloud providers and the top-ten IT companies based in the country. With the likes of Brexit and Safe Harbor2, the reasons that companies are seeking to host their data in Ireland are becoming more and more compelling and, as a result, so are the opportunities. Over €2 billion of investment in new data centres or expansions to existing data centres in Ireland has been announced this year already. These include:

  •  €200m new data centre in Limerick – Tiernan Properties;
  • €150m new data centre in Cork – JDC Group;
  • €150m expansion into new data centre in Dublin – Google;
  • €900m expansion of Dublin data centre campus – Microsoft;
  • 160 hectare new data centre and IT campus site in Killala, Co Mayo;
  • €1 billion new data centre in Galway – Apple;
  • €800m new data centre in Co Meath – Facebook;
  • New data centre in Dublin – EdgeConnex.
But this is not the end, as the Irish Wind Energy Association is forecasting a further €2 billion of data centres, new builds and expansions to existing sites to be announced in the next five years. While Ireland is known for the large hyper-scale data centres, the market is changing as more independent carrier neutral data centres are being built, and with the demand for edge centres continuing to grow, this will only increase. Ireland is getting connected. There is also a change happening in Ireland – the country’s connectivity locally and internationally is becoming faster with new pipes giving direct connections to the USA, Paris and the Netherlands without going via London. Cork is seeing a number of these pipes hitting shore and is set to enjoy a number of new developments over the coming years. Internally, (Irish) connectivity has also vastly improved, which means that the opportunities for DC operators to find locations away from Dublin and Cork also exist. Ireland is uniquely positioned to capitalise on the need for more data storage and hosting which will be driven in no small way by IoT (Internet of Things), M2M (Machine to Machine) communications, driverless cars, new 5G services and the continued growth of streamed video.

DataCentres Ireland conference


Now in its fifth year, DataCentres Ireland takes place on November 8-9 at the RDS, Dublin, and is the largest and best-attended conference and exhibition for the island of Ireland. This multi-streamed conference and exhibition benefits from the active involvement of industry organisations such as Data Centre Alliance, the Green Grid and Host In Ireland. Featuring over 50 leading national and international speakers, the conference will address both the operational and strategic issues affecting the hosting of and infrastructure needed. The operational session will address practical issues of how to design, build and operate effective and resilient data centres, server and comms rooms. Whether that be power, cooling legacy data centres and new technologies, through to efficiencies that can be gained by monitoring ‘what you run on the servers’ and how developments such as Blockchain may effect industry processes and hence the data centres and digital infrastructure. The strategy sessions will look at the factors driving the Irish market, Brexit, Safeharbor2, legislation and issues related to governance and tax, and what this may mean for investors, data centre operators, and those seeking to host their digital asset in Ireland. As part of the strategy session, Host In Ireland is sponsoring a dedicated conference stream entitled ‘For Ireland, The Data is the Why, The Centre is the How’, and will include Host In Ireland executive and advisory council members along with selected global industry leaders. There will be keynotes and panels discussing issues linked to data sovereignty – protection, compliance financing of data/hosting infrastructure developments, Irish regional development, global megatrends – what this may mean for Ireland, and creation, retention and attraction of talent. There’s a lot going on in Ireland, so invest the time and network with the market. Registration is free; simply visit datacentres-ireland.com. To exhibit, call the DataCentre Team on +44(0) 1 892 518877 or email datacentres@stepex.com.