4 minute read
A COMPETITIVE EDGE
from LuxLife 2022
EDGNEX, the new digital infrastructure provider from DAMAC, is proactively building, buying and forming strategic partnerships to develop the world’s next digital hubs
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Global spending on information technology has risen rapidly over the last few years. Experts believe that the pandemic-driven market conditions have seen developments that would ordinarily take decades rise in a span of a few months.
“It all ties in with the Internet of Things (IoT),” said Konstantin Borman, Senior Vice President – Data Centres and Managing Director – Middle East at EDGNEX. “The amount of data we are consuming has risen drastically. 5G capabilities have dramatically increased the amount of data that can be exchanged between devices and enhanced business applications. This is facilitating everything from high-speed downloads and high-definition content to driverless cars.
“Teenagers alone contribute to 70 per cent of the online traffic today and this is only set to increase. In fact, the latest numbers suggest that by 2035, we will be processing zettabytes of data (one zettabyte is approximately equal to a trillion gigabytes). Everyone thought that a petabyte alone (1,000,000 gigabytes) is huge, but now it is not as significant anymore. Naturally, all this data needs to be stored and processed somewhere. And with more and more things going digital, the amount of data is increasing at a much faster rate than the computing capacity of the servers.”
Therefore, identifying the need for high-quality data centre infrastructure in the market, the DAMAC Group launched EDGNEX, the region’s new provider of global digital infrastructure.
BREAKING GROUND
“After studying the market potential, it was clear that the data centre industry is very intensive. Our strategy from the beginning was to go after markets that have either an existing or future demand. We learnt that the pent-up demand in the Middle East was significant – we are talking potentially about building 300 megawatts in the next five years. And until there is a supply of quality digital infrastructure services, this demand will not be satisfied,” said Borman.
With a mission to bring new speed and agility to the data centre market, EDGNEX will focus on new acquisitions, projects and partnerships to develop local data centre facilities and enhance underserved markets. This will not only benefit economies in the region but will also allow enterprises and end users to benefit from high-quality digital infrastructure within easy reach.
“Our concept is to build, own and operate data centre platforms, which means that we buy land, build the facility and install technical infrastructure. We are in the process of building new data centre platforms in different countries. We are looking at countries in the Middle East and we soon plan to expand in other geographies, including Africa, South East Asia and Europe.”
At present, EDGNEX enables hyperscalers, cloud service providers, content companies, over-the-top (OTT) players and enterprises to rapidly scale up their presence in emerging digital hubs. It supports the growing demand for optimised application performance and user experience while enabling organisations to meet regulatory compliance by keeping data in-country.
“While there are a whole host of reasons why data centres are essential to businesses, a number of those businesses do not want to spend CapEx upfront to build their own data centres and then operate it. This is why they outsource these requirements and use our services to the extent that they need. It gives them the opportunity to grow with us and as the business grows, they can optimise their costs and transfer CapEx into OpEx.
A MARKET DISRUPTOR
Borman pointed out that in the mature data centre markets found in North America, mainland Europe, Singapore and Hong Kong, the supply meets the demand. However, this is not the case in the Middle East, some parts of Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia. “There is an opportunity to step in if you understand how this can be successfully done. Efficient data centres ultimately translate into lower costs in terms of the total costs of ownership for the client. And at EDGNEX, we offer the complete package.
“When businesses work with us, they are assured of the highest levels of quality and security. We start with a concept, construction and install quality equipment (we only work with known brands). Our operations are top-notch; we follow industry best practices and our data centres are very efficient from an energy consumption perspective. This allows us to offer scalability, security and 100 per cent uptime. So we are disrupting the industry by bringing the highest quality products and services to markets that are still developing.”
DIGITAL REAL ESTATE
While real estate and digital infrastructure are often not viewed on the same spectrum, Borman said: “You can consider data centres as a piece of technical real estate because you own the land and the building and are generating revenue from the service you are providing. To some investors, this is a very attractive business model and it is quite stable. From a returns point of view, if you compare investments in property, you have certain returns. However, if you have data centres, your returns can be significantly higher.
“At the end of the day, we are fortunate to have this strategy supported by our Chairman, Hussain Sajwani, who is a visionary driving this business forward. He fully understands our vision and supports it, which allows us to make decisions fairly quickly. Although we are a small team, every member is equipped with the expertise to develop and expand the business. This is a good combination that will allow us to be very successful and stay ahead of the curve.”
