The data center sector has changed dramatically over the last decade, with hyperscale and platform providers driving the most recent building boom. According to new data published by Synergy Research Group, the number of large data centers operated by hyperscale providers rose by 11% in 2018, reaching 430 by the end of the year; another 132 remain in the pipeline.
What’s driving the surge? The major public cloud service providers increasingly attract the migration of ever-expanding enterprise workloads. The leading social networks have a business model founded on consumers eagerly providing them with troves of invaluable personal data. And the raison d’être of over the top (OTTs, content providers that distribute streaming media as a standalone product) is filling the bulk of our free time with seemingly infinite libraries of entertainment.