US, Japan, UK and China Lead in Retail Colocation Revenues

RENO, NV, December 2, 2014

New Q3 data from Synergy Research Group shows that the seven largest country markets now account for 69% of worldwide retail colocation revenues, with the US alone accounting for almost 35%. Historically the Japanese market was a very clear number two in the ranking, but the 2013 devaluation of the Yen allowed the UK and other large colocation markets to narrow the gap. Equinix is the market leader in three of the top seven countries, while Interxion also features among the leading operators in three of the seven, thanks to its broad European footprint. Worldwide retail colocation revenues continue to grow at around 10% per year, though China’s growth rate is more than double the worldwide average. Netherlands, Germany and the UK are also growing at above-average rates. There are now twenty countries that each generates at least $100 million in annual retail colocation revenues. Meanwhile wholesale colocation revenues, while only a quarter the size of retail colocation, are growing at a slightly faster pace.

“Despite the strong trend in companies shifting IT workloads from their own data center infrastructure to cloud services, growth in colocation remains robust in most countries,” said Synergy Research Group’s John Dinsdale. “With over 60% of colocation spend coming from various types of service provider, the colocation market is reasonably well insulated against major shifts in IT strategy within the enterprise sector.”