A Look Behind the Hyperscale Data Center Market
The Disruption of the Value Chain
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Hyperscale has altered the data center market indefinitely. The scale and complexity has disrupted the ecosystem of people involved in bringing such immense capacity to life — changing the parameters of their roles and the way this value chain works together.
To get a better understanding of the transformation, we surveyed North American hyperscale and colocation data center decision makers spanning consulting engineering, construction management, distributor/integrator, and electrical contractor roles.
Explore portions of the results here. Download the full report for more data and analysis.
Consulting Engineers
With oversight for design, efficiency and reliability of electrical systems, consulting engineers are first in line to customer satisfaction.
Having spent the most time, compared to the rest of the value chain, on hyperscale projects, they understand the opportunity such scale brings. But now, the weight of time and labor constraints is especially challenging.
Figure 1:
What percentage of your time was dedicated to hyperscale and colocation data center projects in the past 12 months?
Figure 2:
In terms of the impact to your business, how do you rank hyperscale among other data center trends such as open architectures, edge deployments, SDDC, prefab, AI/Digitization?
Figure 3:
My top 3 pain points on a day-to-day basis are:
Figure 4:
In which area (increased profit margins, new applications, gaining new skills, scale, new channels, new install knowledge) do you see the biggest opportunity with hyperscale and colocation data center projects?
Electrical Contractors
The amount of time electrical contractors will spend on hyperscale and colocation projects stands to increase by nearly 160% in the next three years.
The number of subsystems involved in a hyperscale data center is exploding. At the same time, the availability of workers skilled in this area will continue to shrink. The disparity is likely to change the role of the value chain members the most.
Figure 5:
What percentage of your time was dedicated to hyperscale and colocation data center projects in the past 12 months?
Figure 6:
In terms of the impact to your business, how do you rank hyperscale among other data center trends such as open architectures, edge deployments, SDDC, prefab, AI/Digitization?
Figure 7:
My top 3 pain points on a day-to-day basis are:
Figure 8:
In which area (increased profit margins, new applications, gaining new skills, scale, new channels, new install knowledge) do you see the biggest opportunity with hyperscale and colocation data center projects?
Construction Managers
Perhaps no one in the value chain understands the pain of time and expense more than construction managers.
The magnitude of their responsibility for ensuring the overall success of the data center design and build project is equally reflected in their concerns about overruns and excitement around innovative applications.
Figure 9:
What percentage of your time was dedicated to hyperscale and colocation data center projects in the past 12 months?
Figure 10:
In terms of the impact to your business, how do you rank hyperscale among other data center trends such as open architectures, edge deployments, SDDC, prefab, AI/Digitization?
Figure 11:
My top 3 pain points on a day-to-day basis are:
Figure 12:
In which area (increased profit margins, new applications, gaining new skills, scale, new channels, new install knowledge) do you see the biggest opportunity with hyperscale and colocation data center projects?
Distributor / Integrators
Scale and complexity will certainly up the value of distributors/integrators, but they’ll also increase risk, cause security concerns and labor shortage worries for these members of the value chain.
As they try and bridge the gap among the rest, it’s likely they’ll be inclined to look for more ways to standardize.
Figure 13:
What percentage of your time was dedicated to hyperscale and colocation data center projects in the past 12 months?
Figure 14:
In terms of the impact to your business, how do you rank hyperscale among other data center trends such as open architectures, edge deployments, SDDC, prefab, AI/Digitization?
Figure 15:
My top 3 pain points on a day-to-day basis are:
Figure 4:
In which area (increased profit margins, new applications, gaining new skills, scale, new channels, new install knowledge) do you see the biggest opportunity with hyperscale and colocation data center projects?
