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December 10, 2020

Data Gravity Intensity to More Than Double Annually for Financial Services, Manufacturing, Insurance

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 10, 2020 – Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), a leading global provider of cloud and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, has published version 1.5 of its Data Gravity Index DGx, expanding the scope of the study from the 21 initial metros in version 1.0 to encompass 53 global metros and assessing the intensity and gravitational force of enterprise data growth on 23 distinct global industries.

“As businesses undergo the rapid pace of digital transformation, understanding the impact of data gravity intensity will be a fundamental requirement for both enterprises and service providers to unlock data-driven opportunities,” said Tony Bishop, SVP, Platform, Growth and Marketing at Digital Realty. “Data gravity is an impediment to enterprise growth that will affect businesses across industries around the world. The release of our Data Gravity Index DGx 1.5 exploring the impact of data gravity across more metros and key industries is designed to help enterprises develop a data-centric architecture as they combat digital transformation challenges.”

Data Gravity’s Growing Impact on Key Industries 

The industries expected to experience the greatest data gravity intensity include the banking and financial services, manufacturing and insurance industries, all of which are expected to undergo rapid growth in digital acceleration, digital-enabled interactions and data exchange volumes globally. Key findings across Forbes Global 2000 enterprises include:

  • Data gravity intensity for banking and financial services firms will be exacerbated by regional growth in key banking and financial hubs.
  • Large manufacturers are expanding their data and analytics capabilities, driven by the growth of in-home consumption.
  • The insurance industry is expected to see data gravity intensify as digital-enabled interactions continue to increase in importance while key metros experience rapid growth in the volume of enterprise data exchange.

Regional Forecasts for New Global Metros

According to the expanded report, Jakarta, Indonesia is expected to generate the fastest growth in data gravity intensity, followed by Singapore, Rome, Hong Kong, Melbourne and Atlanta. In addition, metros that are home to Forbes Global 2000 banking and financial services firms such as London, New York, Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Beijing, Silicon Valley, Frankfurt, Toronto, Singapore, Washington, D.C., Charlotte, Sydney, Milan and Seoul are expected to realize significant growth in the volume of enterprise data exchange, given their position as financial centers.

“Data gravity continues to accelerate unabated, and so does the urgency of addressing it,” said Dave McCrory, VP of Growth, Head of Insights & Analytics at Digital Realty. “We are expanding the findings of our Data Gravity Index to include an analysis of 23 industries and 32 additional metros to provide insights to help business leaders make better strategic decisions about where to locate their data.”

Industry Perspective on the Data Gravity Index DGx

“With AWS Outposts, our customers benefit from a consistent experience across both on-premises and cloud environments. The Data Gravity Index shows why proximity to data sets matters, and with AWS Outposts, customers can bring Amazon Web Services (AWS) services, APIs, and tools anywhere they need them – whether for data residency, performance with ultra-low latency, local data processing, or modernization. Similarly, PlatformDIGITAL provides our shared customers with a consistent global deployment experience wherever they choose to deploy AWS Outposts. Using Digital Realty Data Hub and AWS Outposts allows customers to integrate public and private data sources at the center of their data exchanges with a truly consistent hybrid experience.” – Joshua Burgin, General Manager, AWS Outposts, Amazon Web Services, Inc.

“As the world’s only modern data warehouse for hybrid cloud, Yellowbrick Data enables enterprises to analyze data in real-time – both in the cloud and on-premise – to extract the insights needed to power today’s digital businesses. The latest findings of the Data Gravity Index illustrate why it’s imperative that enterprises design for data gravity, so it does not inhibit digital business growth. In collaboration with Digital Realty, we are helping enterprises leverage next-gen hybrid IT and data localization to unlock differentiated value, enhance business capabilities and overcome data gravity barriers.” – Mark Cusack, CTO, Yellowbrick Data

About the Data Gravity Index DGx

The Data Gravity Index DGx methodology is based on the analysis of Global 2000 enterprise companies’ presence in each metro, along with variables for each metro, including GDP, population, number of employees, technographics, IT spend, average bandwidth and latency, as well as flows of data. Digital Realty conducted research between August 2019 and August 2020 and drew upon more than a dozen third-party data sources, ranging from the World Economic Forum and United Nations to global consulting and market research firms.

About Digital Realty

Digital Realty supports the world’s leading enterprises and service providers by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company’s global data center platform, provides customers a trusted foundation and proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture PDx solution methodology for scaling digital business and efficiently managing data gravity challenges. Digital Realty’s global data center footprint gives customers access to the connected communities that matter to them with more than 280 facilities in 49 metros across 24 countries on six continents. To learn more about Digital Realty, please visit digitalrealty.com

Click here for the full report.


Source: Digital Realty 

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