Digital Realty - August 2020

DIGITAL REALTY

The global data centre ecosystem platform

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

DIGITAL REPORT 2020

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Digital Realty: the global data centre ecosystem platform

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D I G I TA L R E A LT Y

Chris Sharp, CTO at Digital Realty, on powering data centre digital transformation with a global ecosystem platform

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orget data lakes, we’re now talking about some of the largest data oceans ever created,” says Digital Realty’s Chris Sharp,

discussing the seismic evolution of data – and how 04

enterprise and hyperscale customers use that data – towards a series of interconnected global, digital ecosystems capable of supporting even the most complex digital transformations.

Digital Realty, at which Sharp holds the role of Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President and Service Innovation, is a key enabler of those transformations. The company supports the global data centre, colocation, and interconnection strategies of leading organisations worldwide with a fit for purpose global data centre platform, PlatformDIGITAL. This comprehensive solution offers a model built around network, control, and data hubs, and has been created to enable the ever-changing data, security, and networking demands of these global enterprises as they grow.

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2001

Year founded

$3bn+ Revenue in US dollars

1,500 Number of employees

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D I G I TA L R E A LT Y

“ We are really focused on supporting our customers in their enterprise journey, and a crucial aspect of that is not only focusing on what they need today, but what they’ll absolutely need tomorrow” — Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President and Service Innovation 06

The pace at which the global digital economy has evolved has changed the way enterprises in every sector create and deliver value. Now more than ever data, technology and an effective IT strategy are essential to enterprises.

Equally so, is operating on demand, ubiquitously and in a manner that is augmented by real-time intelligence at every point of business globally.

Yet, with that growth comes challenges.

For example, as data creation and consumption rises, so too does the need for effective tools, networks and infrastructures to access and analyse it. This creates data gravity – a point that many enterprises reach as they scale in a digital environment.

THE GLOBAL DATA TRANSFORMATION Sharp is a seasoned technology leader, with more than 20 years’ experience and a proven track record of evolving businesses to meet the most complex and demanding technology trends.

From the countless enterprise organisations that he and Digital Realty work with, he identifies an overarching trend driving change: as enterprises scale, they deploy globally and need access

to their data and public cloud-based systems in a different way, yet they also all need help managing the complexity from this shift. “This is where, in my experience, Digital Realty is really able to differentiate itself from others in the market,” he says. “We are dedicated to supporting our customers in their enterprise IT journey and a crucial aspect of that is not only focusing on what they need today, but also what they’ll absolutely need tomorrow.

“It’s essential to recognise that all enterprises and businesses – not just the hyperscalers that we deal with – are often going through significant digital transformations,” he continues. “Part of that, in terms of their data, is about being able to deploy globally consistent infrastructure to manage efficient data exchanges, rethink data flows to a broader set of partners, and build these ecosystems of community interest.

E X E C U T I V E P R OF IL E :

Chris Sharp Title: Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President and Service Innovation Location: Menlo Park, California Chris has more than 20 years’ experience and a proven track record of evolving businesses to meet the most complex and demanding technology trends. He has a strong understanding of technology and its business impact with a deep network of relationships in the internet, telecommunications and IT industry.

During his career, Chris has led acquisition and integration for seven successful companies since 2003, valued over $3bn in managed network services, colocation and security services.

Providing those organisations with an innovative and market-leading platform that’s exactly the same whether they’re in Silicon Valley, Chicago, London, Osaka, or any other location worldwide, allows access to revenue and ecosystems in a very repeatable fashion.” w w w.di gi t a l re a lt y. com

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a very different ethos at Digital Realty, where we want to empower our customers and be a true open platform.”

That ethos, as Sharp explains, mirrors the broader evolution of the data centre sector, as well as how companies – indeed, all of us – use data. “We’ve seen a shift wherein customers don’t want to be siloed into different products or different services – so, the differences between collocation and scale, for example. Typically, particularly with how rapidly the landscape is changing, you’ll see customers may go into collocation and outgrow it very quickly because the economics and the sheer infrastructure they need just can’t be provided through a collocation

BUILDING A GLOBAL DATA CENTRE PLATFORM

model. From our perspective, it’s about

This approach, Sharp explains, is the

manage all of those different fields in

driver behind PlatformDIGITAL, which

a seamless fashion. It’s why you’ll see

he says is “about being entrenched

us stop talking about collocation and

in what each customer needs and

scale, and just talk about ‘the platform’.

truly supporting them on a global

building out a robust platform that can

“That shift is really dictating the direc-

basis. This is what directly drove our

tion of PlatformDIGITAL,” he adds. “You

recent announcement of expanding

don’t go to Hertz to rent a car for three

PlatformDIGITAL with Interxion, adding

years, you know? It’s economics. So, for

more value to our customers and deeper

us, it’s always about understanding a

reach into Europe and beyond. We have

customer’s requirements around sizing w w w.di gi t a l re a lt y. com

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D I G I TA L R E A LT Y

Digital Realty: PlatformDIGITAL CLICK TO WATCH

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0:59

10 so we can work on an environment

created in a centralised place, the

that lets them ‘land and expand’. The

proliferation of digital technologies,

other critical challenge enterprises

smartphones, cloud, mobile analyt-

face today beyond that blended set of

ics and more means it is now being

services, is really around what it means

created everywhere. That data must

to be open, so that they can get the full

still be aggregated in order to ana-

value from the broader landscape that

lyse, understand, and learn from it.

they need access to.”

When it collects, a growing number

The last major challenge in the shift

of services and applications use it —

to a global ecosystem is data gravity,

against this proliferation of devices,

which Sharp describes as fundamental

data gravity interacts. This can result

to successful enterprise infrastructure.

in data that is near impossible to

By 2025, it is estimated that 463 exabytes

move and, according to Digital Realty,

of data will be created daily worldwide.

“unfavourable complexity when factor-

And while that data was typically

ing business locations, proximity to

users, regulatory constraints, compli-

a customer’s data – say they are look-

ance and data privacy.”

ing to carry out some data analytics

To grow globally, businesses must

and want to stand up an AI farm with

use the global open platform approach

several GPU processors, for example –

offered by Digital Realty to mitigate

which is a real game changer for many

the data gravity barriers created by

of those enterprises we’re working

digital transformation. “Some of the

with. They’re all trying to work with data

enterprises we work with aren’t fully

analytics, to use multi-hybrid cloud

aware of the issue, or that they should

architectures and our platform does

deploy in proximity to where all of this

that — when that data doesn’t have

data is burgeoning or being built, and

to travel far because the customer is

this is where PlatformDIGITAL brings

immersed right in it, that’s probably

huge value,” Sharp notes. “So, we can

the most optimal architecture that an

procure a cabinet in close proximity to

enterprise could hope to achieve.”

Solve data gravity challenges and scale digital business by implementing the PlatformDIGITAL solution model

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D I G I TA L R E A LT Y

CONTROL, CONNECT, OPTIMISE There is also a notable trend of enterprises looking to move away from running their own data centres and data locations, Sharp reveals. He explains that, in this context, solutions like PlatformDIGITAL enable those businesses to get ahead of the curve before their footprint is too difficult to move, adding that “we can expose the benefits of having that fit-for-purpose platform that’s heavily interconnected.

Believe me, I don’t run into any custom12

ers that tell me they want to continue building their own data centres.”

PlatformDIGITAL allows enterprises to leverage full interconnection capabilities across Digital Realty’s global ecosystem, including cloud service providers, partners, networks and customers, that will drive their business. According to the company, the core benefits of the platform revolve around three distinct opportunities: be in control, be connected, be optimised.

In the case of control, for example, standardising deployment and operations on a single platform simplifies infrastructure and reduces risk, while the greater connection of a global

platform improves business performance through participation in global digital ecosystems; it also shortens the time to connect with markets and other players in that ecosystem.

The platform tailors infrastructure deployments and controls matched to specific business requirements, irrespective of data centre size, scale, location configuration, or ecosystem configurations. In line with the scaling of modern, digital enterprises, it lets customers operate deployments as part of a seamless extension of any global infrastructure, says the company, thus enabling global, distributed workflows at centres of data exchange

“ Forget data lakes, we’re now talking about some of the largest data oceans ever created” — Chris Sharp, Chief Technology Officer, Executive Vice President and Service Innovation

to remove data gravity barriers.

CONNECTION AND SX FABRIC “To embark on a digital transformation, the first thing an enterprise needs is storage,” Sharp says. “They need their own data store, and that’s where the IP for a lot of our customers comes from, the ability to have that data store and run analytics against it. You’re no longer talking just about owning land, but the ability to deploy high power density infrastructure in close w w w.di gi t a l re a lt y. com

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D I G I TA L R E A LT Y

proximity to that data store once you

global exchange of data centre cloud

factor in things like AI. There’s not an

and connectivity solutions that enables

industry out there today that isn’t look-

interconnected global workflows, the

ing to up its data analytics capabilities

integration of cloud and B2B ecosys-

and it’s the proximity element that

tems with virtual interconnections,

PlatformDIGITAL enables in a very

and the ability to virtually connect

efficient way.”

clouds and digital ecosystems both

After storage, says Sharp, connec-

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locally and globally. “It essentially lets

tivity is crucial. It is here that Digital

enterprises click and procure,” says

Realty’s Service Exchange (SX)

Sharp. “They’re afforded a portal within

Fabric on PlatformDIGITAL proves

which they can pick any one of the

crucial. SX Fabric, which is powered

150-plus cloud on-ramps from all of the

by Megaport’s multi-cloud and eco-

top cloud providers globally through

system connectivity, is an automated

SX - all without ever having to use an

engineer, or even understanding the

and giving them as open a platform

level of complexity behind it.

as possible. We really like to invest

“The work that we collaborated on

in our partners, not to compete with

with Megaport on SX is really at the

them, and have those best-of-breed

highest level,” he continues. “It’s very

relationships that let us deliver the best

technically challenging to achieve

capabilities to our customers.”

because it revolves around the hybrid multi-cloud approach that a lot of

GLOBAL FOOTPRINT

enterprises are taking, wherein they

SX Fabric is just one aspect of the vast

need to establish a location to stand

PlatformDIGITAL capability roadmap.

up their private infrastructure and then

For example, the platform offers cover-

access multiple public clouds. From our

age from more than 265 Digital Realty

perspective, it was really about aligning

data centres in 20 countries and 44

our enterprise customers in the market

metropolitan areas. Connections are offered through physical and virtual cross-connects and includes more than 2,000 ecosystem participants — the company plans to extend this to more than 10,000 in the future.

More recently, the business has completed projects in Frankfurt, Dublin, and Tokyo, locations that Sharp describes as “hotbeds for enterprise customers trying to access revenue opportunities”. Take the new Clonshaugh data centre in Dublin, which forms part of an existing portfolio in the Irish capital. Ireland’s data centre economy is growing rapidly having already contributed 7.13bn euros w w w.di gi t a l re a lt y. com

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D I G I TA L R E A LT Y

16 to the nation’s overall economy in the

28MW; it offers solutions from Network

last decade. Digital Realty has invested

Hubs through to Data Hubs.

more than 200mn euros in Ireland

“With our size and our balance sheet,

to date, with the latest Clonshaugh

there’s rarely an opportunity in the

development designed to underpin the

market that we don’t see,” says Sharp.

importance of data-led technologies

“If there’s an asset that will trade or

to Dublin’s economy.

customer demand around an area

The company has also expanded

then we’ll spend a lot of time assess-

PlatformDIGITAL in Germany, purchas-

ing that prospect. We already have

ing 1.35 acres of land in Frankfurt to

one of the most robust platforms to

address increasing customer demand.

serve Europe with the recent expan-

The new campus, purpose built for

sion of the Interxion assets, we’re

those enterprises looking to exploit the

constantly watching for opportunities

opportunities that PlatformDIGITAL

in the Middle East and we also have an

provides, will add an additional 6MW

eye on some of the deeper elements

of power to the company’s existing

of the African market. It’s also worth

17 noting that we’re always looking to go

trends we have discussed, as well as

deeper into existing markets. That’s

other emerging trends like the personi-

particularly the case in terms of new

fication of the data centre becoming

technologies, such as 5G or edge

a critical asset. Every industry and

computing, both of which will still

every customer out there, regardless

need efficient access back to the core

of size, will need to have a fundamental

infrastructure we have today.”

foundation like PlatformDIGITAL that

Those new technologies aside, Chris

allows them to increase in power den-

believes that the global ecosystem

sity, increase interconnection, increase

model enabled by PlatformDIGITAL

in square footage or footprint, and

will continue to dominate. “If you

increase in global presence.”

would’ve told me 15 years ago that I’d still be going to work in a data centre, I’d have found it hard to believe,” he states. “But what continues to draw me in is my passion for those secular w w w.di gi t a l re a lt y. com

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