International construction consultancy Linesight is leading the way in successfully delivering data centre developments throughout the Middle East, with a current pipeline of projects worth more than $400 million, said a top official.

The company’s expertise in cost estimation, tender management and appointment as well as strategy implementation has resulted in a 30-40% increase in the number of data centre projects awarded to Linesight - with several high-profile project works currently ongoing in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, remarked Ciaran McCormack, tthe Regional Director for the Middle East.

And this trend looks set to continue with the global data centre market expected to increase by $284.4 billion between 2019 and 2023, growing at a projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of more than 17%, stated McCormack, citing a recent report by Technavio.

"Increased government support of the digital economy in the Middle East and Africa, combined with the growth in cloud adoption, network upgrades to support 5G and the migration from on-premise infrastructure to co-location and managed services are expected to be the driving forces behind this growth in the region," he said.

Building on this, increased investments in data centres in the MEA, and indeed globally, can also be attributed to the vast use of advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), he added.

Since opening its Middle East regional office in Dubai in 2008, Linesight has completed data centre projects in the GCC with a capital value in excess of $1.5 billion including providing cost management services on the first modular DC project in the region.

According to research and advisory company, Gartner, of the data centers that fail to prepare for AI and Machine learning, 30% will no longer be operationally or economically viable by 2020. In light of this stark reality, it is mandatory that data centres invest in cutting-edge solutions that will help them stay ahead of the curve.
 
“AI’s potential in data centres is almost limitless. Not only does it have the potential to reduce operating costs and improve efficiencies, it can also enhance security and improve relationships between facilities and their customers by reducing the chance of outages as well as enabling facilities to continuously meet the most challenging service-level agreements,” said McCormack.TradeArabia News Service