Digital and technology

Ireland as a data hub

iStock_000018332245Medium Ireland is considered an ideal location for data centres due to its cool climate, improving technological infrastructure and government initiatives. agendaNi reports.

Data centre services are increasingly being located in Ireland, mainly due to our cool climate which allows for the buildings to be passively cooled, leading to significant reductions in power use. The fact that at least 25 high-profile multi-national companies (including Microsoft, IBM, Google, Amazon, Yahoo!, EMC, BT, HP and Vodafone) have data centres on the island increases its reputation as a suitable location.

Over the last year, Executive ministers have been pointing to Northern Ireland’s cloud offering. At an event in London in February, to mark Derry’s City of Culture status, Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster highlighted the advanced research carried out at the University of Ulster’s Magee and Coleraine campuses. Derry company Kainos, which designs cloud-based platforms, announced 60 jobs last May.

Employment and Learning Minister Stephen Farry has launched the province’s first higher level ICT apprenticeship programme at South West College in Enniskillen, which prepares students for cloud developer roles. The college is the first further education institution in Northern Ireland to offer Microsoft’s certified technical specialist accreditation. “The importance of the ICT sector cannot be under-estimated,” Farry stated. “It is the driving force of a globally competitive economy, underpinning innovation, competitiveness and long-term prosperity.”

The Irish Government’s Action Plan for Jobs targets big data and cloud computing as particular areas for future employment. In addition, the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) is seeking to attract cloud computing and data centre services and, along with Enterprise Ireland, is also establishing a ‘cloud computing competence centre’ to promote greater investment.

A spokesman from the Irish Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation told agendaNi that Ireland’s moderate climate “provides a stable and competitive location” for data centres and data centre-based activities; there is no tectonic risk and the cool air can be used all year round. The development of next generation telecoms infrastructure will provide “direct and resilient connectivity” to Europe, Britain and the USA.

The Republic’s other positives included a strong cluster of companies which can design and build data centres efficiently and cost effectively, and strong research capabilities in related centre technologies.

A supportive policy context provides an R&D tax credit, the 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate and a tax deduction for capital expenditure on the acquisition of intangible assets. The Republic’s infrastructure is complemented by Project Kelvin in the North and the East-West electricity interconnector.

Microsoft’s first European ‘mega data centre’ was opened in Dublin in 2009. Its then Head of Infrastructure, Arne Josefsberg, said that the $500 million facility was located in Ireland because “this is one of the best places in the world to build a data centre.” Prevailing westerly winds drive air into the data centre which cools all the servers and networking equipment inside.

Similarly, Google opened its €75 million data centre in Dublin’s Profile Park in September 2012. The centre uses an advanced air-cooling system to keep its computers running smoothly. As a result, it does not require costly and power-hungry air-conditioning units, which are still used in many traditional data centres.

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