The Year in Hyperscale: Bigger Deals, Faster Networks, New Strategies

2018 has been a big year for hyperscale computing, as the size and speed of deals for major cloud computing platforms and social networks continues to influence how the data center industry does business.
Dec. 26, 2018
3 min read
A row of cooling towers at a Google data center in Belgium. (Photo: Google)
A row of cooling towers at a Google data center in Belgium. (Photo: Google)

There’s no question that 2018 has been a big year for hyperscale computing, as the size and speed of deals for major cloud computing platforms and social networks continues to influence how the data center industry conducts business.

As we look back at 2018, it’s a good time to take stock of how the growing needs of hyperscale computing has shaped how service providers operate. These trends include unprecented leasing volumes (especially in Northern Virginia), the continued super-sizing of cloud data center facilities, the adoption of new leasing strategies to help cloud providers manage their growth, and a cloud-driven shift in the location of landing stations for subsea cables.

It’s a fast-moving sector and it can be hard to keep up. So we’ve collected a group of stories from Data Center Frontier’s coverage to get caught up on how hyperscale moved the needle in 2018:

Hyperscale Leasing ‘Through the Roof” in Northern Virginia: In the first six months of 2018, developers in Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia leased more mission-critical space than has been sold in any single year, in any market, anywhere on earth. Colocation leasing strategies are changing.

The Data Center 360 panel at the CAPRE Mid-Atlantic Summit featured service providers operating in Northern Virginia. (Photo: Rich Miller)

Executive Roundup: Hyperscale is a New Market Segment: In our Executive Roundtable, thought leaders from Digital Realty, Vertiv and BASELAYER debate data center trends. Today: The emergence of hyperscale computing as a separate market segment.

Hyperscale Data Center Deals Will Get Bigger. Much Bigger: Wholesale data center leases are growing rapidly, according to CloudHQ founder Hossein Fateh, who said hyperscale deals will soon reach into the hundreds of megawatts.

New Real Estate Strategies Help Cloud Builders Grow Faster: Real estate lease structures are playing a larger role in the growth of cloud computing, as seen in two recent deals that have helped hyperscale tenants provision space faster and secure capacity for growth.

Cloud Players are Redrawing the Subsea Cable Map: The subsea cable world is being disrupted by hyperscale cloud players, who are investing to reroute traditional undersea lanes to bring data traffic ashore near their giant data center campuses.

Keep pace with the fact-moving world of data centers and cloud computing by following us on Twitter and Facebook, connecting with Data Center Frontier editor Rich Miller on LinkedIn, and signing up for our weekly newsletter using the form below. 

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