Data centres and globalisation

Data centres may not be mentioned in your textbooks but they are important hubs in the new global geography. Such digital developments are a key part of globalisation, driving economic, social and even political change worldwide

Peter Jones, Daphne Comfort and David Hillier

The growth of social media sites, online shopping and mobile devices have all increased the need for data centres

Facebook, You Tube, Twitter, eBay, Amazon… These services, along with texting and gaming, have become essential elements in most of our lives. The huge growth in online and mobile transactions and communications has led to a phenomenal rise in generation of digital data. These data are processed, stored, managed and exchanged in places called data centres, of which there are now over 500,000 worldwide. Trade estimates suggest that in 2012 some 1.32 trillion gigabytes of data were created, that is equivalent to every person on the planet owning ten iPods.

The emergence of data centres and their growing number ref lects developments in infor mation and communication technologies. These include: