The emergence of public, private and hybrid data clouds in proximity to leading colocation, managed services, and hyperscale players in Ireland has led industry observers to dub the nation as the “Home of the Hybrid Cloud.” The products and services that are hosted, stored, and exported from Ireland’s data centres are very much part of the country’s €71 Billion ICT services export industry. Despite the name, the cloud is a solid and physical entity. It consists of data centres connected by fibre-optic cables across the globe.
Recently, Host in Ireland Founder and President Garry Connolly conducted a video interview for Host News with Tanya Duncan, Managing Director of Interxion, and a member of the initiative’s Executive Committee. Interxion has been a strategic partner of Host in Ireland for the past four years. Not surprisingly, Ms. Duncan discussed the trend of multinational businesses migrating their data to the cloud and the importance of interconnection in today’s digital economy.
“Interxion’s data centres are highly-engineered, but more and more of our clients are coming to us because of the connectivity elements and the ability to connect privately to the cloud,” she commented, “especially as hybrid cloud has established itself as the way to go for so many businesses.”
Ms. Duncan also addressed the increased reliability and direct connectivity options that are available, particularly for companies with regulatory or compliance requirements.
“The solutions that are available today are more steadfast,” she added. “So, for example, whereas connecting to the cloud over the public internet might not have been acceptable for some companies, now private connections directly from the data centre to the cloud are acceptable.”
Ms. Duncan also agreed with Connolly’s observation that data centres have evolved from their primary role as secure facilities for enterprises to store their data off-premises to occupying a place as the “interconnection zone for the connected planet.” He pointed to the emergence of Marseilles as the gateway to Africa.
Concerning the evolution of Host in Ireland’s mission since Interxion first became a strategic partner of the initiative, Ms. Duncan stressed how the organization aids in forming a more informative narrative about the data centre sector.
“Host in Ireland’s scale is broader and the challenges that the data centre industry in Ireland are facing are different,” she remarked. “Today, the initiative is helping to drive our agenda and educate the wider community on the strategic value of data centres, and that’s why Host in Ireland is such an important voice and vehicle.”
To watch Garry Connolly’s interview with Host in Ireland Executive Committee member Tanya Duncan in its entirety, click here.
