The Top 10 Data Center Stories of 2019

What were the year’s biggest data center stories? As we approach the New Year, it’s a good time to reflect on 2019 and look back at the trends and stories that mattered.

The prevailing themes in 2019 reflected the data center industry’s continuing growth trajectory: Hyperscale spending on data centers and fiber, the debut of new data center companies, rising rack densities, and regulation that could impact the sector.

But what were the biggest individual stories? For that, we turn to our audience of data center decision-makers, who voted with their time and attention to 2018. Here’s a look at the 10 stories that attracted the most pageviews this year on Data Center Frontier, ranked in order.

The Eight Trends That Will Shape the Data Center Industry in 2020: Each year at Data Center Frontier, we outline eight themes that will shape the data center business in the coming year. For 2019, we predicted that scale gets even more hyper, staffing challenges emerge, and market niches proliferate. Our “Eight Trends” piece was also DCF’s most popular story in 2018. Our 2020 forecast is coming on Jan.6, so be sure to sign up for our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss it!

Google Unveils $13 Billion in New Data Center Construction for 2019: Google outlined a plan for massive infrastructure investment, including plans to build new data centers in Texas, Ohio, Nevada and Nebraska as part of a major expansion of its Internet infrastructure in 2019. Update: It looks the company met that ambitious goal.

New NFPA Battery Standard Could Impact Data Center UPS Designs: A new fire protection standard could have a big impact on the use of batteries in UPS systems, according to a group of  data center energy experts, who sought to mobilize the industry to seek revisions.

What 5G Will Mean to the Data Center Industry: 5G wireless is expected to increase the volume of mobile data. But when? A closer look at the timing of the 5G rollout and what all that data traffic will mean for data centers.

A New Cloud Corridor Emerges South of Ashburn: A new development zone is emerging in Northern Virginia, as data center developers lock down development parcels just west of Dulles Airport. Recent deals value data center sites at more than $1 million an acre.

Facebook Will Begin Selling Wholesale Fiber Capacity: As Facebook builds more fiber routes to move data traffic between its data centers, it will begin selling unused capacity to other companies, effectively entering the wholesale fiber business.

Evoque Launches Colocation Business With Former AT&T Data Centers:  There was huge interest in the emergence of new data center companies with well-heeled backers. Evoque Data Center Solutions is a new colocation player formed through the purchase of 31 data centers from AT&T. Evoque is backed by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, which has hired a team of industry veterans led by CEO Tim Caulfield.

Report: Data Center Rack Density is Rising, and Heading Higher: Data center power densities are rising, and large enterprises expect that trend to continue, according to a new report from 451 Research, which suggests a growing opportunity for specialized cooling solutions, including liquid cooling.

STACK Infrastructure Launches National Data Center Platform:  In January, STACK Infrastructure launched a new brand and data center platform play, with the backing of IPI Data Center Partners and assets acquired from Infomart and T5 Data Centers.

Google Building More Data Centers for Massive Future Clouds: Google cloud investment provided bookends for our Top 10, as seen with DCF’s December follow-up to the search giant’s  early-year announcement.

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