In fact , according to a report by Research and Markets , the global colocation data centre market is expected to grow to $ 54.8bn by 2020 .

But in an industry that has been defined by innovation and rapid growth , what ’ s the next step for the data centre space ?

Moving forward , ServerFarm believes that its strategy of moving physical data centre assets into the virtual world is going to elevate the company to new heights .

The benefit of virtualising servers and infrastructure is clear : it breaks the link between the physical and digital and in doing so , it creates the foundation for a more dynamic , flexible and efficient data centre . Jim Shanahan , VP of Global

Operations , says that it was this unique take on data centres which first drew him to the firm .

“ When I joined ServerFarm I saw an opportunity to change things ; to take what in many organisations has been a rather pedestrian approach to the physical assets of the data centre and bring that into the modern world by taking everything physical – space , power and cooling , as well as compute - and putting it in a private cloud with a comprehensive online interface to make it as easy as possible for end users ,” explains Shanahan .

“ This is an industry that is growing but also changing very quickly ,” adds VP of Sales Arun Shenoy . “ I think we ’ ve come to the realisation that some of the approaches , especially in the mechanical and electrical side , are not keeping pace with the IT environment from an innovation perspective .

“ At ServerFarm we believe that

108 June 2018