Technavio analysts forecast the data center cooling market in Africa and Middle East to grow at a CAGR of more than 19% during the forecast period, according to their latest report. The research study covers the present scenario and growth prospects of the data center cooling market from 2016 to 2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from investments made in new data centers and the renovation of existing ones.
At present, the adoption of high-performance computing infrastructure in data centers is low in Africa and Middle East. However, growth in cloud, Internet of Things, and big data analytics will prompt enterprises to invest in data centers and adopt high-performance infrastructure with at least 20% spending with respect to the overall infrastructure spending.
Rakesh Kumar Panda, a Lead Analyst at Technavio for research on data center, says, “Green data center solutions are gaining traction in the market as they can reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses. Green data centers are equipped with components that can inhibit the transfer of dust particles, increasing the efficiency of the cooling system. This will lead to the operation of high-performance computing infrastructure for at least 20 racks from the total number of racks installed in the data center.”
Most data center operators in Africa and Middle East are aware of the high operating costs involved in data centers. In this region, most upcoming data center facilities are expected to be designed based on Tier 3 and Tier 4 standards. However, these data centers will require energy efficient infrastructure to reduce carbon emissions and power consumption.
Power consumption is the major operating cost of any data center operator. Enterprises in Africa and Middle East planning to establish data centers will likely adopt energy efficient cooling techniques like free cooling to minimise operating costs.
Technavio analysts highlight the following four factors that are contributing to the growth of the data center cooling market in Africa and Middle East:
- Increase in construction of new data centers
- Growing construction of green data centers
- Increased heat density in data centers
- Need to reduce OPEX in data centers
- Increase in construction of new data centers
Cloud computing and big data analytics have influenced the demand for data centers in Africa and Middle East. Public cloud is the largest growing market in the region. The cloud IP traffic in the region is expected to experience a CAGR of around 40% over the forecast period.
The construction of data centers by global organisations is growing in the Middle East. In 2015, Alibaba partnered with Meraas, a Dubai holding group, to offer its cloud services in the region. In addition, in 2016, Oracle is planning to open a data center in Abu Dhabi due to increased cloud service demand in the region.
In 2016, Airtel opened $10 million data center in Sierra Leone. Also, Ecuador’s National Telecommunications Corporation constructed a $21 million data center in Ecuador in the same year.
Many local organisations, governments, and banks are involved in the construction of data centers in the Middle East. This scenario is likely to continue throughout the forecast period owing to investments by telecommunications service providers and global cloud service providers.
The growing demand for data centers in Africa and Middle East has paved the way for the development of solutions that enable the operation of green facilities. Power usage effectiveness and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification play a vital role in building and operating green data centers.
Advanced infrastructure offers high efficiency with low power consumption and environmental effects. Innovations in cooling systems such as free and evaporative cooling solutions help in operating green data center infrastructure. Green data centers enable reduction of heat and noise emissions. There are also cooling systems that are designed to function with no moving parts and less noise emission.
Rapid advances in technology related to data center equipment and the increased implementation of technologies have led to an increase in heat density. Currently, there are many data centers worldwide operating high-performance computing infrastructure to improve business operations, where the rack-level heat density is around 10 kW.
Technavio is a global technology research and advisory company. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets.
