SELECTING THE BEST EUROPEAN LOCATIONS FOR YOUR IT INFRASTRUCTURE
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CONNECTIONS
INTO EUROPE
As the diagram shows, each of the countries we discuss
in this paper (shown in blue) is well connected within Europe
and beyond. Many of these business centres are wellpositioned to serve as a central hub to distribute data and/or
applications to the European market as well as emerging
markets such as Russia, Central & Eastern Europe, Turkey,
Middle-East and North Africa.
TO BUY OR BUILD?
Your decision to invest in deploying IT infrastructure
in Europe can take one of two forms: renting space
in an existing, operational data centre ("buying") or
establishing your own in the country of your choice
("building"). Both options still require you to choose which
country (or countries) you want to be based in. All of the
countries covered in our analysis have excellent third-party
colocation and hosting options.
Indicative round trip delays from a central European location are:
•
•
•
•
Within Europe: 30-60ms
Russia (Moscow): 30-40ms
North Africa: 30-60ms
Middle East: 110-140ms
If building your own data centre is the right choice for your
business, one thing to consider is how long it"s likely to take
to get the facility operational. In our experience – and we"ve
built a lot of data centres – obtaining all the necessary
permissions and building an operational data centre can
take anywhere from 6 to 36 months. The large range
is down to the specifics of the particular location as well
as the regulations and processes of individual countries.
In comparison, assuming available space, moving into
existing facilities is a matter of days or weeks, depending
on your requirements.
EUROPEAN INTERNET
TRAFFIC ROUTES AND HUBS
Helsinki
Oslo
Dublin
Stockholm
Copenhagen
Moscow
London
North America
Warsaw
Amsterdam
Brussels
Frankfurt
Prague
Vienna
Paris
North and South America
Zurich
Milan
Istanbul
Madrid
Thicker lines indicate greater internet bandwidth
capacity while the size of each circle represents
the total international internet bandwidth
connected to the specified city, showing you at a
glance both the diversity and relative capacity of
the major routes into, out of and around Europe.
Africa
Middle East
& Asia
Source: Based on a number of public
sources including Telegeography
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CHOOSING A EUROPEAN LOCATION:
MARKET CHARACTERISTICS,
DIFFERENTIATORS AND RISK PROFILES
We’ve used eighteen criteria to evaluate the attractiveness of the locations included in this comparison. The criteria have been
divided into three groups:
• Market characteristics – set of criteria describing the demographics of each country
• Market differentiators – set of criteria indicating the impact of policy choices
• Risk profile – set of criteria indicating the main risk factors
See the appendix for details on the sources and figures.
MARKET
CHARACTERISTICS
GDP
Internet
penetration
Smartphone
penetration
Population
Metropolitan
area size
Average
salary
Ease of
doing
business
Global
innovation
Corporate
tax rate
METRIC
USD bn
%
%
# people
# inhabitants
Euros
Ranking out
of 185
Index score
(/100)
% of
commercial
profits
SOURCE
World Bank
(2011)
World Bank
(2011)
Wired
(2011)
Worldatlas
(2012E)
Eurostat
(2012)
Eurostat
(2011)
ICF and
World Bank
(2012)
INSEAD
(2012)
World Bank
(2012)
CRITERION
AUSTRIA
418
79.8%
36%
8,372,930
2,635,990
22,384
29
53.10
53%
BELGIUM
514
78.0%
28%
10,827,519
2,922,678
21,210
33
54.29
58%
DENMARK
332
90.0%
44%
5,540,241
1,909,612
24,204
5
59.93
28%
FRANCE
2,778
79.6%
30%
65,447,374
11,914,812
23,987
34
51.75
66%
GERMANY
3,607
83.0%
28%
81,757,600
2,574,812
22,729
20
56.25
47%
IRELAND
221
76.8%
35%
4,459,300
1,801,089
20,971
15
58.68
26%
NETHERLANDS
838
92.3%
38%
16,609,518
2,405,533
21,876
31
60.55
40%
1,479
67.6%
46%
46,951,532
6,387,824
12,613
44
47.25
39%
SWEDEN
544
94.0%
52%
9,366,092
2,091,473
22,941
13
64.77
53%
SWITZERLAND
660
85.2%
30%
7,782,900
1,392,396
41,890
28
68.24
30%
2,431
86.8%
40%
62,041,708
13,614,409
21,311
7
61.25
36%
SPAIN
UNITED KINGDOM
4
MARKET
DIFFERENTIATORS
/
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