LONDON-A recent joint study by Cushman & Wakefield and engineering consultant firm hurleypalmerflatt has issued a new study that shows that in comparing 20 major regions of the world, the US ranks the highest as a place to build a data center. The Data Centre Risk Index, created here, compared criteria such as the cost of energy, international bandwidth per capita and the ease of doing business.

Two decades ago, data centers were used to back up the financial hubs in major cities such as Chicago, New York City and Tokyo. Today, however, increased digital record keeping, combined with cloud computing, mass video transfer, social networks and other Internet uses, has created a need for many more companies to store data.

Thanks in part to cloud technology, these centers do not have to be located near a company for it to access its data. Literally, these centers can be built anywhere in the world. However, data center downtime can cost companies millions of dollars in lost revenue and even threaten the viability of the business.

Keith Inglis, a partner with the local office of C&W, says figuring out the best place for a center is difficult due to variables such as infrastructure and government transparency. He says the study is designed to support companies to make informed investment decisions about where to locate these centers and to develop strategies to mitigate anticipated risk. “I don’t see data center development slowing down,” Inglis tells GlobeSt.com. “Consider, for example, that cloud services are expected to grow to a $100 billion industry in just a few years.”

The study compared 20 regions of the world with 11 different risk factors. Energy cost, bandwidth and the east of doing business was weighted the heaviest among the factors, with other considerations including the cost of labor, taxes, political stability and natural disaster potential.

According to the study, the US ranked first because energy is relatively cheap and the country has an excellent reputation as a place to do business, despite high taxes on corporations. “We’re not saying it’s the best place to put a data center, but we’re trying to put together an opinion on the matter,” Inglis says.

The other countries that round out the top five in the study, in order, are Canada, Germany, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. The reliability and security of power supply is a major issue, and Germany has declared a move from nuclear to renewable energy. China and India are engines of extreme global growth, but scored poorly as a result of strict foreign ownership regulations and other barriers to investment.

Instant Insights /

US Seen as Safest Global Spot for Data Centers

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