I recently read an article that answered the burning question, “Who leased the most data center space in 2017?” As compelling as the title may have seemed, it turns out that the story read a lot like one of those mystery novels where it’s obvious who did it after the first page or two. If you, like me, guessed big cloud guys, consider yourself a member in good standing in the Hercule Poirot society of data center detectives.
Despite the obvious profiling of companies like Facebook, Amazon, Uber, et al., as voracious consumers of data center capacity, we can’t overlook the effects of their patterns of conspicuous consumption on many facets of the industry — not the least of which being marketing.