Modular Data Center Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

Modular Data Center Market - Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2023 - 2028)

The global modular data center market was valued at USD 21.65 billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach a value of USD 89.9 billion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 27.35% over the forecast period of 2021-2026. Modular data center solution units facilitate the physical build of IT infrastructure. The modular approach can be focused on the data center level or at a more granular level. As the organizations move toward adopting more cloud-based distributed technologies, modular architecture can support additional workload to support business demands. These portable data centers are offering a cost-effective way of secure computing power without adding extra floor space, to meet the rising demand for cloud, mobile, and social analytics.

Key Highlights

• The mobility and scalability of modular data centers are driving the market. The mobility of modular data centers enables clients to relocate their data centers, rather than demolishing them and constructing a new one at a new site. For more than 40% of the organizations, scalability is one of the top challenges faced. The flexibility of the modular data centers, due to having the modules, can be replaced easily when they are obsolete, or there is a need for updated technology. Scalability provides the users with the building blocks to add capacity to their systems in timely intervals and pay-as-one-grow. This capacity-on-demand approach allows organizations to meet the fluctuating demands quickly.
• Further, the cooling units that are used in advanced modular data centers cool more effectively than traditional computer room air conditioning units. According to data from Building Industry Consulting Service International, (BICSI) modular data centers offer 40% greater energy efficiency than an open data center environment.
• Disaster recovery advantages significantly drive the market growth. While there are organizations that take a modular approach to their data centers for the purposes of capacity planning, there are other organizations like the large organizations that leverage modular data centers for their disaster recovery operations. According to a recent survey of 110 US-based IT decision-makers, US Signal's "2020 State of Data Center Offerings" report, security and compliance, backup and disaster recovery, and network availability are the top factors considered while selecting a third-party edge data center provider.
• Among the respondents, some 42% of those surveyed stated that disaster recovery and backup availability are the key factors considered for evaluating edge data center providers. A full 66% reported that they currently use backup and disaster recovery services from an edge data center provider. However, some 54% admitted that they are only somewhat confident or not very confident in their disaster recovery and backup solution, especially in the wake of cyberattacks, IT outages, or natural disasters.
• Further, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed an additional effect on the overall economy across sectors. It is also to pave the way for the digital economy. Alibaba Cloud, China’s top cloud computing provider, is investing significantly in building next-generation data centers to support the needs of digital transformation in the post-pandemic situation. In April 2020, AlibabaCloud announced that it would invest RMB 200 billion in core technologies and the construction of future-oriented data centers in the next three years.
• Also, the move to work from home during the outbreak of COVID-19 and the consequent demand for software-as-a-service (SaaS) are the factors that drive the traffic to data centers.

Key Market TrendsTelecom Sector to Hold Significant Market Growth

• The telecom providers, to optimize their networks and the digital services running on them, are going to need more compute and storage capacity to be deployed across carrier networks. Additionally, the increasing 4G penetration and the upcoming 5G wave are further motivating telecom vendors to invest in the modular data center market for more network functionality and a much higher ability to manage networks around the edges due to high data traffic.
• As carriers can be benefitted in terms of network service optimization, edge computing has become almost a common practice in the telecom industry. The telecom operators are estimated to deploy micro modular data centers, along with 5G cell towers, in order to provide enterprises across industries better network connectivity.
• For instance, according to the Ericsson Mobility report, in the North American region, 5G subscriptions are expected to account for 55% of mobile subscriptions by the end of 2024. As 5G has to ensure higher speeds and lower latency, telecom vendors would turn toward edge computing.​
• In December 2019, Amazon Web Services and Verizon announced a partnership called 5G edge cloud computing to help build new applications, IoT-empowered capabilities, and net-new value innovations. Verizon would be offering secure connections to AWS’s nearby cloud data centers (edge gateways), so one can tie in its compute and storage services through its 5G network.​
• Since the advent of the internet, telecommunication has been one of the major driving forces behind global development and value creation. Recently, there have been many changes occurring in the telecommunications industry, which can easily be attributed to the advancement in technology. High rates of growth are being forecast for this fastest-growing market.
• The recent telecom operator to deploy a modular data center is T-mobile. The deployment of the modular data center was commissioned by Emerson Network Power and was in line with the industry’s trend to consolidate its data center infrastructure to maintain the operating costs and reduce carbon footprint.
• In India, after the emergence of network provider Reliance Jio, the data consumption in the country increased and reached 9.8 GB per month. Moreover, the Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson has stated that the usage would be doubled to 18 GB per month by 2024.​ Moreover, with the upcoming 5G technology, the consumption rate is expected to increase, along with the need for effective data storage facilities in the industry.​

North America Accounts for the Significant Market Share

• The growth of mobile broadband, an increase in big data analytics, and cloud computing are driving the demand for new data center infrastructures in the region. North America region comprises a considerable amount of data centers, and many enterprises are switching from hardware to software-based services is estimated to be an addressable market for data center installations.
• According to the cloud scene, there are 2517 data centers in United States, 253 data centers in Canada, and 2 data centers in Cayman islands, and 2,252 service providers in United States with 60 network fabrics in 2020. Also, according to a report by CBRE, the total capacity of United States primary data center markets grew by 200 megawatts(MW) or 8% in H1 2019.
• The country is expanding its capacity with more than 411 MW, which is currently under construction. The primary United States wholesale data center markets recorded a combined 171 MW of net absorption in H1 2019, which is more than 56% of the 2018 full-year record. ​
• The modular data centers are at least 60% faster to deploy and provide a cost savings of 13% or more compared to traditional data center power and cooling infrastructure. Hence, modular is also helping in overcoming the rising energy crises due to growing data and data center's infrastructure.
• Furthermore, in October 2019, United States Army has planned to invest USD 1 billion in cloud and data modernization over the next five years. It wants to deploy two modular data centers in Iraq with Schneider Electric's prefabricated modular data center range called a Smart Shelter Container. It will be responsible for voice, video, data, and infrastructure systems within the Ministry of Defense- Iraq areas of responsibility.​
• Moreover, the region has a strong foothold of modular data center providers, which adds to the growth of the market. Some of them include IBM Corporation, HPE, Vertiv Co., Cisco Systems, and Dell EMC, among others. In October 2019, ABB enabled smarter data center solution for North Carolina-based GIGA data center that aims to make modular data center technology available to every company to maximize scalability while achieving an ultra-low Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating.

Competitive Landscape

The modular data center market is fragmented, where competition tends to increase and consists of several major players. Few of the major players currently dominate the market, and these major players with a prominent share in the market are focusing on expanding their customer base across foreign countries. Further new players are also entering this market through strategic collaborative initiatives that cater to intense rivalry. Key players are IBM Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, etc. Recent developments in the market are -

• May 2020 - Schneider Electric planned to work in collaboration with Sydney-based Leading-Edge Data Centers on a USD 30 million projects to ‘upgrade’ Australia’s digital economy and keep data on home soil. The company will provide Tier-3-designed, standardized, pre-assembled and fully integrated data center modules, designed to boost Leading Edge’s presence in six sites across New South Wales.
• April 2020 - Huawei Technologies launched the next-gen FusionServer Pro 2298 V5, a 2U 2-socket storage rack server that provides up to 450 TB storage capacity. It is designed to resolve the problems of low storage capacity and limited room space, and for customers who are looking to deploy a high-density and large-capacity storage solution in their data centers.

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