Irish businesses are becoming more dependent on interconnection data services to facilitate expansion overseas, according to a new survey. The Global Interconnection Index, an annual study published by interconnection and data centre company Equinix, found 40 per cent of Irish businesses say interconnection is a key factor in their survival.
The survey tracks, measures and forecasts growth in interconnection bandwidth, which is the total capacity for private and direct exchange of traffic between businesses and key partners. Using interconnection to exchange large volumes of data is considered a key factor in competing in the digital economy.
More than a third of said interconnection brought a competitive advantage in their respective marketplaces, while 50 per cent said using interconnection was key to digital transformation.
Some 57 per cent are expanding overseas, with 63 per cent of them relying on interconnection to move into new regions. More than 40 per cent said doing so would reduce the cost of connectivity.
Important consideration
Irish companies have highlighted multi-cloud as a priority for their businesses, with 37 per cent flagging it as an important consideration. Interconnection can help simplify the process of integrating and controlling different cloud services and storage.
According to Equinix’s survey, the volume of traffic over the infrastructure will reach 53 zettabytes by 2022, which is more than 13 times the volume of the public internet.
"People, software and machines are creating and consuming data faster and in all the places where we work, play, and live," said Rick Villars, research vice president, datacentre and cloud, IDC.
“The significant increase in data created, aggregated and analysed in these new locations is contributing to a major shift away from deploying IT in traditional corporate data centres. Enterprises need access to robust, modern data centre facilities near the edge locations where businesses want to deploy dedicated infrastructure and interconnect to the increasing number of clouds, customers and partners that are at the core of digital transformation efforts.”
