May 25, 2018

NTT, GDS to undergo data center expansion

The expansions seek to extend their data center footprint in a bid to meet consumer demand.

Telecom giant

Telecom giant NTT Communications and data center operator GDS Holdings have expanded their data center footprint in London and Shanghai respectively. As per the expansions, NTT will be building a new facility at Dagenham, London whereas GDS will be acquiring a new data center in Shanghai in order to respond to consumer demands.

NTT say that Europe has become a data center hub where speed and connectivity are not a problem. They claim that organizations world over and of all sizes have extended their data footprint in Europe to gain a business advantage.

With the new facility in Dagenham, London, NTT say that they will not only be leveraging the network in Europe for business gains but will also aid the government in transforming Dagenham into a business territory. They say that this will entice enterprises to foray into the region and create employment opportunities for people.

Explaining this, Jon Cruddas, Member of Parliament for Dagenham and Rainham, commented:

The data center is part of our vision to reposition Dagenham’s economy into the 21st century away from heavy manufacturing into growth sectors, like media and technology.

The 25 percent local employment target is a minimum and we expect this to be comfortably exceeded due to the measures agreed in the Employment and Skills Strategy NTT has developed with the Council.

Parallely, GDS Holdings are on the brink of acquiring a new data center in Shanghai, China. With this acquisition, GDS will be adding 43,000 sq.feet of space to their current data center assets.

According to GDS, the competition in China to gain data-center market share is intensifying and fast amends have to be made to stay in the top league. They believe that since time is of essence when it comes to competition, they chose to buy a facility instead of building one.

With this acquisition, GDS claim that their position in the market will certainly take a leap. Speaking about this in detail, William Huang, Chairman and CEO of GDS Holdings, commented:

The acquisition will extend our leadership position in the Shanghai market where we now have over 50,000 square meters (538,200 sq.ft) of data center capacity.

It will quickly add to our supply, enabling us to fulfill more demand in hand from a major strategic customer. We will continue to pursue acquisitions of this type in tandem with our organic growth efforts.