The network operator says the new 720 sq m centre addresses increased customer demand in central and eastern Europe for co-location and hosting services. It already operates data centres elsewhere in the Czech Republic, as well as in Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania.
Adam Sawicki, group CEO at GTS, said that demand for data-centre capacity in central and eastern Europe is following a similar trajectory to western Europe and the US, with enterprises keen to outsource at least part of their IT infrastructure: “Outsourcing often starts with the hosting of a company’s website in a data centre, to provide high availability, and then continues to outsourcing email and server back-up,” he said. “At GTS, we’ve been observing this IT infrastructure outsourcing trend, and view data-centre services as highly complementary to our telecoms, data and internet services.”
Mike Sapien, principal analyst at consulting firm Ovum, believes Prague could prove a big growth opportunity for GTS: “There are not that many players investing in these [central and eastern European] markets,” he said. “There is often a high capital cost involved, as well as regulatory challenges.”
Other network operators have also been unveiling data-centre facilities in Europe and the US in the last few weeks. Interxion announced the opening of its seventh data centre, in Frankfurt, while US operator Paetec is close to completing a facility in Boston, and says plans for further builds are in the pipeline.
