By Business & Finance 
Pictured (L-R): Maurice Mortell, TelecityGroup and Minister Leo Varadkar TD at the new TelecityGroup data centre in Blanchardstown
Irish-based businesses spent an average of €160,000 on data hosting solutions each year, and Ireland is being increasingly chosen as data centre location, a survey commissioned by TelecityGroup Ireland has reported.
The survey, carried out by TechPro among 131 senior IT decision-makers in Irish-based businesses, shows that businesses are starting to view Ireland as a data centre hub.
The top three reasons for choosing Ireland as a data centre location, according to respondents, were corporation tax (67%); climate, due to the low number of heating and cooling days required (61%); and Ireland’s proximity to Europe (52%).
Other motives included ease of doing business in Ireland (29%) and local workforce talent (28%), while 22% said high-speed connectivity to international markets.
Interestingly, almost half of respondents said it is the movements of some of the world’s largest internet companies to set up data centre operations here, that have caused them to think of Ireland as a data centre hub.
Maurice Mortell, TelecityGroup, said: “The results of this survey are extremely interesting and reflective of our experience with customers. Ireland’s physical location and quality of transatlantic connectivity make it one of the fastest through-points for connecting to regions including the UK, US, and Europe.”
Dónal Travers, head of technology group, IDA Ireland, added: “The availability of state-of-the-art data centres is one of the main reasons why international technology companies of all sizes choose Ireland for strategic international activities. Ireland has one of the most advanced and competitive telecommunications infrastructures in Europe, providing access to high-speed, low latency networks to the US, UK and EU. The investment by Telecity will help to further advance Ireland’s ability to attract the world’s leading digital companies to the country.”
