The rapid rise of data centers
The pandemic has sent investments in data centers soaring across the globe. In the year’s second quarter alone, the funds for the development of such infrastructure globally (not including the cost of purchasing or leasing property) amounted to 41 billion euros, according to the Synergy Research Group.
Despite the recent announcements on the planned investments by Microsoft and Digital Realty (the latter of which this week announced the acquisition of Lamda Hellix), Greece still has a long way to go before it becomes a telecommunications hub, for which data centers are vital pillars.
Grid Telecom director Giorgos Psyrris told an online conference on Wednesday that the international fiberoptic cables that traverse the Mediterranean Sea show the greatest traffic in Spain, France, Italy and even Cyprus, with Greece remaining off that chart for now. The head of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (ADMIE), which is involved in the development of fiberoptic networks, said that Greece has just 12 data centers at the moment.
Psyrris also told the Infocom World Conference that in the broader region of the Mediterranean there are over 580 data centers, with Italy boasting 122 and Turkey 33.
With the data flow from Asia, Africa and the Middle East already huge and constantly growing, the underwater fiberoptic cables could come through Greece, which is currently bypassed due to the shortage of infrastructure. This is the reason for the new investments in data centers in Greece, which are expected to shoot up in the coming months, according to telecommunications sector professionals. This explains the announcement by Digital Realty, regarding the acquisition of Lamda Hellix, about Greece being an emerging interconnection hub at the meeting point of Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
The same telecom officials explain that the juncture favors the strengthening of investments in data centers, as the pandemic has accelerated the country’s digital transformation and made the increase in data capacity essential, leading to soaring demand for the cloud. Therefore investments in data centers have skyrocketed globally, after absorbing $100 billion globally.
