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Top 10 countries in which to locate a data center

The safest and cheapest place to open a data center? The United States.
Written by Joe McKendrick, Contributing Writer

Cushman & Wakefield just issued its annual "Data Center Risk Index," which evaluates the favorable and not-so-favorable factors to weigh in locating data centers in various countries around the globe.

Data Center NASA Photo credit NASA Office of the CIO
Photo credit: NASA, Office of the CIO

Important factors for such decisions include energy costs, bandwidth, overall ease of doing business, corporate tax rates, labor costs, political stability, natural disasters, and population education levels.  Cushman & Wakefield published the study in conjunction with hurleypalmerflatt, a sustainability-focused construction group, and Source8, an IT infrastructure consulting firm.

The United States comes out on top, the report's authors have determined. As they describe it, the U.S. "still has the highest internet bandwidth capacity of all the countries included in the index, the average cost of electricity has remained relatively low whilst most other countries have seen prices increase." However, they adds, "natural disasters remain the most significant risk to data centers, as we saw last year with hurricane Sandy in New York."

The United Kingdom came in second due to its  "high international internet bandwidth capacity and the good score for ease of doing business."  However, rising energy costs may dampen the advantages of opening up data centers on the Isles.

Here are the top 10 countries for locating a data center. The entire list is not all-inclusive, only 30 countries were evaluated:

  1. US
  2. UK
  3. Sweden
  4. Germany
  5. Canada
  6. Hong Kong
  7. Iceland
  8. Norway
  9. Finland
  10. Qatar

 

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