Cloudscene News

This month’s newsletter is out - did you miss it? Read it here

November’s news includes:

- Feature highlight: Markets - Hot tips for users: Maps & Rankings - Most read blog posts: Notable Industry Announcements and Data Center Certification Standards - Top data centers: LA1 and SY3

November has proven to be a big month of notable industry announcements with the likes of Facebook, LinkedIn and Alibaba Cloud all revealing plans for significant data center growth. 

Facebook to Expand Fort Worth Data Center Despite not being online until early 2017, Facebook’s Fort Worth Data Center is already growing with construction on an additional two buildings confirmed. This is expected to push the social media giant’s investment into the Fort Worth region to the $1 billion mark. 

The original plans included the construction of three buildings totaling 750,000 square feet but this has since expanded to five buildings totaling nearly 2.5 million square feet. All of which is to be powered by 100% renewable energy! 

LinkedIn Launches its Most Technologically Advanced Data Center In a blog post earlier this year, LinkedIn revealed its data centers and infrastructure have grown by 34 percent per annum thanks to the half a billion members that rely on the social media network. 

In 2016 alone, the organisation has gone live with new data centers in Singapore and Oregon. The Singapore data center was born out of necessity considering the number of LinkedIn members across APAC has doubled over the last two years.

The cherry on the cake however has to be their new Oregon data center which LinkedIn states is the most technologically advanced and highly efficient data center in their global portfolio. Also powered by 100% renewable energy, the data center is the first built on Project Altair, its massively scalable, next-generation data center design.

Alibaba Cloud to Open Four New Data Centers by End of 2016 Off the back of a hugely successful Global Shopping Festival, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group, Alibaba Cloud, has excited the market with an announcement of four new data centers to boost its network of data centers to 14. 

The locations of the new facilities are Dubai, Germany, Australia and Japan which are all expected to go online by end of 2016.

The new data centers will support Alibaba Cloud’s growing client base beyond the current 2.3 million mark. The cloud provider certainly proved the extent of its capabilities during the Global Shopping Festival which saw Alibaba Cloud technology support Alibaba’s online marketplaces to facilitate a record-breaking 175,000 transactions per second during peak traffic spikes.

Today’s data centers are subject to more rigorous compliance standards than ever before. 

Expectations from customers regarding uptime, environmental impact, quality, operations, security and safety are encouraging best practices from colocation providers and operators.

Certifications such as ISO, Uptime, Leed and SSAE16 are just some of the standards proving of significant importance to those in the market for colocation data centers. 

In particular, Uptime Institute’s Tier Classification System for data centers is now considered the global standard for third-party validation of data center critical infrastructure. Uptime Institute alone boasts that it has awarded 800+ certifications across 80 countries as detailed in the map below.

To help differentiate data centers on Cloudscene, service providers and data center operators can publish certifications for the following regulatory and standards organisations: 

- Uptime Institute - SSAE16 - ISO - Leed - NABERS - US EPA - PCI - Open-IX - OHSAS - ISAE - HIPAA - EU Commission - DataCenter Star Audit - BCA-IDA - ANSI/TIA

Take a look at some of the data centers that have recently updated their profiles on Cloudscene to also include certifications:

- Webair - Jaguar - NextDC - TTC - Centron

Service providers and data center operators can ‘claim’ their Cloudscene listings in a matter of clicks. Owning a profile on Cloudscene allows the organisation to self-manage the published information and add important data such as certifications! For any support, please reach out to us via [email protected] or visit our support page.

The global spotlight is well and truly on the United States as the 2016 Presidential Campaigns reach their peak with Election Day on the 8th of November.

Whilst we’ll steer clear on the subject of the candidates, we thought it was timely to take a look at the second most dense data center market in the world: Washington DC

The United States has a total of 1,920 colocation data centers with 111 of the data centers located in the Washington DC area (which, for the purposes of our directory, also includes the major hubs of Sterling, Ashburn and Reston in Northern Virginia). This means the Washington DC area is just a handful of facilities shy of the #1 ranked data center market in the world - London - which boasts 115 colocation data centers.

Using Cloudscene’s Rankings tool, we’ve also taken a closer look at the top colocation data centers in the Washington DC area. Our ecosystem-style ranking is unique to Cloudscene’s data and calculated based on the number of known service providers and PoPs in each facility. The Top 10 Data Centers in the Washington DC area are: 1. DC2 - Equinix 2. 21571 Beaumeade Circle - Digital Realty 3. DC1 - Coresite 4. DC6 - Equinix 5. DC3 - Equinix 6. DC4 - Equinix 7. Ashburn - Latisys 8. ACC7 - Dupont Fabros Technology 9. Ashburn - H5 Data Centers 10. DC1 - Equinix

The region is certainly a hive of activity, particularly in Ashburn. In a recent article - Data Center Market Spotlight - Northern Virginia - six of the 20 largest US wholesale data center leases signed in the last 12 months were reportedly in Ashburn. The lessees included the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Oracle, Uber and Google.

Whilst the impact of the US presidential election result will take some time to be fully realised, it’s possible we’ll see some ripples on the stock market effecting the major DC operators as we reported in a previous blog post: The Brexit Effect on Data Centers. 

Want to find out more about colocation data centers in your market? Search Cloudscene now

Who are the top data center providers in your region? Finding out is easier than you think. In fact, you can view the Top 10 Data Centers across 110+ countries in just two simple clicks.

Cloudscene’s free Rankings tool pulls global data from our comprehensive cloud directory to rank the top colocation data centers based on the number of service providers, followed by the number of known PoPs in each respective data center.

Let’s say you were looking for Chicago colocation data centers. To find the rankings for this region, you’d simply select United States of America from the Country dropdown and Chicago from the Market dropdown:

The top data centers and top service providers for the Chicago market are then populated in order of ranking which, at the time of this post, are as follows:

1. CH1 - Equinix 2. CH2 - Equinix 3. CH1 - Coresite 4. CH3 - Equinix 5. 350 E. Cermak Road - Digital Realty 6. CH4 - Equinix 7. Chicago - 365 Data Centers 8. 600 S Federal - Zayo 9. Chicago - Alteredscale 10. CH-1 - Latisys

Rankings are updated automatically and can change at any given point of time based on the updates made both by Cloudscene’s data analysts and the data center operators or service providers themselves. 

If you have any feedback regarding the data published on our site, please reach out to us via [email protected] 

Finding colocation data centres has been a lengthy and unreliable process for enterprise IT professionals for some time. 

If one were to search for a data centre in Sydney it used to require scouring countless provider/operator sites individually to gain so much as an address, let alone technical specifications. 

At Cloudscene, we liken this to the days where tenants or prospective home owners were required to do the same when renting/buying a home. This is of course before the likes of realestate.com.au or domain.com.au 

Cloudscene’s free cloud directory is shaking things up and providing comprehensive data on colocation data centres, cloud service providers and interconnected fabrics around the globe.

If you’re looking for a data centre in Sydney, Australia for example, Cloudscene can find it. If you’re looking for rankings of data centres or service providers in Sydney, Australia, Cloudscene can deliver it. 

Did you know there are 56 colocation data centres in Sydney and a total of 211 colocation data centres in Australia?

The Top 5 Data Centres in Sydney are:

1. SY3 - Equinix 2. SY1 - Equinix 3. SY2 - Equinix 4. Sydney West - Global Switch 5. S1 - Next DC

The Cloudscene team attended Data Centre World Asia to showcase our world-class cloud directory in Singapore.

Tens of thousands attended the event which saw many data centre operators, service providers and other industry professionals taking a test drive of Cloudscene for the first time. 

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive and we’re excited to welcome all of our new users!

Cloudscene’s Founder, Bevan Slattery, will present at Data Centre World Asia in Singapore next month.

The topic - Who’s Who in the Data Centre Zoo - will take place on Thursday, 13th October 2016 at 2.15pm (Singapore time). 

In this session, Bevan Slattery will reveal his thoughts and insights on the global data centre market with respect to the major players, niche providers, tech advances, emerging trends and how the APAC region can stay ahead of the rest of the world.

Cloudscene will also be exhibiting at the event. To request a meeting with our team simply visit https://cloudscene.com/DCWorldMeeting

Australian Tech Entrepreneur launches world’s first comprehensive directory of data centers and cloud service providers

BRISBANE, Australia, 31 August 2016 — Australian Technology Entrepreneur Bevan Slattery today announced the launch of Cloudscene, the world's most comprehensive connectivity reference point for colocation data centers, cloud service providers and interconnected fabrics with the directory now available to the public.

Cloudscene was established to improve industry transparency and consolidate the fragmented marketplace for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), colocation and other cloud solutions.  

With more than 4,700 data centers and 4,200+ cloud/internet service providers across 110 countries listed, Cloudscene offers a robust platform allowing service providers to be found and freely analyzed by prospects and customers.

Cloudscene’s Founder, Bevan Slattery said: “It’s been evident for some time that the traditionally long and difficult buying process for data center and enterprise cloud services was not going to change.

“It was out of frustration that the concept of Cloudscene was born. Having invested significantly on these services myself, it became obvious that there was an information gap that needed to be filled.”

Cloudscene is the most comprehensive single resource available, providing visibility of internet and cloud service providers within specific data centers.

“Prospective tenants or home buyers haven’t needed to visit individual websites of real estate agents to get listing information for over a decade. So, why is the tech industry stuck in the past when it comes to enterprise IT services?” said Slattery.

Jason Bingham, Chief Operating Officer, Cloudscene said: “The primary goal of Cloudscene is to deliver reliable and accurate data to market. To achieve this, we invested in an in-house product development team and Australian-based data analysts to undertake the research, analysis and verification work.

“We have an extensive product roadmap in which Cloudscene will grow enormously. This is just the beginning,” he said.

Digital Realty, Telstra, VentraIP, EU Networks, Vocus Communications, Epsilon and NextDC are just some of the service providers already actively using Cloudscene. Visit www.cloudscene.com to find out more.

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About Cloudscene:

Cloudscene is the world's most comprehensive connectivity reference point for colocation data centers, cloud service providers and interconnected fabrics. From data center power, security and building size to location and contact details, Cloudscene's independent and verified data supports business owners and IT professionals in selecting from more than 4,700 data centers and 4,200 service providers across 110 countries www.cloudscene.com

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The latest enhancements to Cloudscene are now available to all users.

The Cloudscene team have been hard at work revamping our beta solution to bring you the world’s most comprehensive reference point of cloud service providers, data centers and fabrics.

We’ve raised the bar to provide you with independent, reliable and comprehensive data to support your important decision-making processes...and now we’re live!

If you’ve visited Cloudscene before, you’ll notice significant enhancements. Specifically:

Redesign In addition to the new Cloudscene logo, we’ve made various design changes to the site to improve the overall user experience. Importantly, you can now search in an instant from the home page search bar.

Markets We appreciate that you may have specific locations in mind and that a whole-of-country search is too wide for some users. To speed up your search, users can now review all providers (ie data centers, service providers and fabrics) by Market. You can access Market data simply by using the search bar, selecting the Directory dropdown or via the Rankings page.

Asset Maps For our more visual users, you’ll be pleased to see that our maps now present each asset’s location on a large scale map for easy reference.

Account Management Inviting your colleagues to join Cloudscene is a simple process you can use to build a respective team to manage the various asset listings.

The result is in, now how will this impact data centers in the UK and EU?

While the long-term impact of Britain’s vote to exit the European Union remains to be seen, some of the biggest data center providers in Europe saw that immediate impact of uncertainty in their stock performance right after the referendum’s outcome was announced last Thursday. 

As far as Brexit’s possible long-term impacts, among the chief concerns are potential expenses associated with compliance with whatever new regulations the UK establishes if and when its process of severing from the EU is completed, data center customers adjusting their infrastructure location strategies, the status of data center industry workers in the UK who are EU citizens but who do not have British passports, and whether or not British tech and financial-services industries (both of which have historically been a big source of revenue for data center providers and equipment vendors) will continue to see the same level of investment they have seen in the past.

Despite the uncertainty and potential disruptiveness of Brexit, there may be some upsides for the data center industry given the UK’s independence from Europe. 

Important considerations before choosing a data center.

According to Forbes, there are five key characteristics that make up a successful data center that one should fully consider before making a selection:

1. Efficiency in Space and Capacity Planning 2. Scalability/Flexibility 3. Cooling Efficiency 4. Documentation, Planning and Procedures 5. Security

Deciding on a data center for your business needs isn’t a decision to be made lightly, so take time to examine what facilities meet the characteristics mentioned above. 

Consider how colocation enables you to save the cost, time and hassle of an on premise data center that requires constant maintenance, power and cooling to support your IT equipment. Investing in the right IT infrastructure allows you to derive the benefits of your investment while focusing on what matters most: your business.

According to a new report published by MarketsandMarkets, the Data Center Security Market is expected to grow from USD 6.32 Billion in 2016 to USD 12.91 Billion by 2021, at a high Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15.36%.

The report - "Data Center Security Market by Application Solutions (Logical Security Solutions and Physical Security Solutions), Service (Consulting, Integration and Deployment, and Managed Services), Data Center Type, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2021″ - indicates that the market is experiencing rapid growth due to the growing need for network virtualisation and cloud computing. Additionally, the growing adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) calls for advanced secured network solutions.

North America is projected to hold the largest market size whilst APAC’s growth has put it as the fastest growing regional Data Center Security Market. 

Asia Pacific is poised to outperform as they lead the world into the digital age, driven by cloud computing technologies.

The Cloud Readiness Index (CRI) 2016 released by the Asia Cloud Computing Association (ACCA) is based on a study which measures the cloud readiness of economies along 10 parameters.

There were some upsets in the Asia Pacific rankings, with Hong Kong claiming the top position, climbing four spots and toppling two-time leading country Japan, which dropped four places to #5. 

Singapore climbed two ranks into second place, while Taiwan (#6), Philippines (#9), Indonesia (#11) and India (#12) also climbed the ranks. 

Countries that fell in the rankings include New Zealand (#3), Australia (#4), South Korea (#7), Thailand (#10), and China (#13). Holding steady are Malaysia (#8) and Vietnam (#14). 

Cloudscene will be attending ITW 2016 8-11 May in Chicago to show a sneak preview of our fully revamped directory. 

If you’re interested in seeing a working prototype of what the new Cloudscene is all about, then be sure to let us know in person at the event or prior by reaching out to us via [email protected]

Whether you’re looking or want to be found, our open source of data can connect you.

After months of planning, research, design and development, Cloudscene is live in beta form.

The Cloudscene team have been working hard to bring you independent, reliable and comprehensive data to help you connect with thousands of data centers, cloud service providers and fabrics around the globe. 

But Cloudscene isn't just another directory. We have a vision to help build the cloud community, making it easier for all our users to develop business relationships and explore new opportunities.

We’ll be at ITW 2016 in Chicago in May, so if you see us there please reach out!