Digital Realty expands Dublin data centre

The data centre, which represents a EUR 70 million investment, follows the company’s previous EUR 200 million investment in the Dublin data centre market, culminating in the opening of its Profile Park campus in May 2019. The Digital Realty-commissioned study – Digital Capitals Dublin Report – examines the value that innovative technologies will deliver to the city’s economy over the next decade through new jobs, businesses, industries and efficiencies in public services.

The report focuses on four of the most widely discussed technology innovations as key drivers for this growth: Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and 5G.

These four innovative technologies added approximately EUR 1.23 billion to Dublin’s economy in 2019, with IoT contributing the most at EUR 630 million (51% of the total) primarily through improvements in operational efficiencies.

AI is the second most impactful with an estimated contribution of EUR 390 million in 2019 (32% of the total) through applications such as those that combat money laundering. Blockchain generated approximately EUR 180 million in value (17%), and 5G, still in its early stages, added an additional EUR 30 million (2%).

By 2029 the most growth is expected to come from 5G, with its economic contribution to Dublin’s economy set to increase by approximately 1,000% over the next decade, from EUR 30 million in 2019 to EUR 1.12 billion in 2029, as 5G becomes the foundation for the deployment of many other innovative, data-led technologies.

AI is predicted to be the biggest driver with an estimated 46% increase in value. IoT is predicted to contribute a further 22%. Digital Realty supports the data centre, colocation and interconnection strategies of customers across the Americas, EMEA and APAC, ranging from cloud and information technology services, communications and social networking to financial services, manufacturing, energy, healthcare and consumer products.