Hyperscale and Other Types of Data Center

Hyperscale and colocation providers enjoy a symbiotic relationship. Hyperscale providers have become the largest customers of many retail colocation and wholesale colocation data centers, with many colocation providers modifying their business models to host hyperscale operations and provide connectivity for enterprise tenants to hyperscale services.

As of the end of 2018, there were 430 data centers operated by hyperscalers with an additional 132 already in the pipeline for the next few years, compared to colocation data centers of which there are around 4500.

Although hyperscale data centers represent less than 10% of the number of total data centers, they represent a disproportionate share of investment in the data center market. In 2019 worldwide spending on data centers is expected to hit $204 billion, in 2018 alone, Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft spent $120 billion, more than 50% of total data center CapEx. The average outlay for each hyperscaler is expected to grow more than 20% annually for the next few years, with the expectation that the return from people and businesses buying public-cloud services will reach $277 billion by 2021, a 20% year-on-year growth.

HYPERSCALE DATA CENTER

A hyperscale data center is leased (or, in some cases, owned) and operated by the company it supports (this includes companies such as AWS, Microsoft, and Google). They offer robust, scalable applications and storage portfolio of services to individuals or businesses. Hyperscale computing is necessary for cloud and big data storage. At least 10,000sq ft. in size. There are usually more than 50,000 computing and storage servers in a typical hyperscale data center, linked with an ultra-high-speed, high fiber count network There are 250,000 switch ports in the computing fabric of an average hyperscale data center

Read the full What is Hyperscale? e-book for more! Learn about the evolution of hyperscale data centers, the challenges hyperscale networks face, and what the future looks like as demand for data and connectivity continues to grow.