Digital Realty has announced plans to the expand the data center in its 10 acre data centre campus at Profile Park, West Dublin. The new build-out will add 10,000 sq ft (920 sq m) of data center space to the already occupied 10,000 sq ft of data center space at Profile Park. The expansion will put the finishing touches to the first data center facility at the campus, while leaving green field space for future data center builds, depending on permission. 

In 2014 Digital Realty announced that Profile Park would enjoy a total investment of €150 million. The facility will employ between 50 to 120 skilled construction workers and engineers during the expansion. 

This expansion backs the view of Ireland as a leading international location for data centers. Apple announced a few months ago it is planning a giant €850 million data center in Athenry, Co Galway, beside a twin development in Denmark, emphasising the growing importance of Ireland to the data center industry.

As The Irish Times recently pointed out, in recent years there has been an explosion in data center development around Dublin. Leading the way was Microsoft, which developed a data center at Grange Castle near Clondalkin in 2009. Expansion has resulted in a 500,000sq ft facility, with another data center on the cards. In 2011, Amazon purchased a former Tesco warehouse in Walkinstown to repurpose into a 240,000sq ft data center. In 2012 Google redeveloped a warehouse in west Dublin into its third energy-efficient data center in Europe. In 2014 Google announced a second €150m data center in Dublin.

digital realty profile park dublin ireland
Digital Realty Profile Park 

Internet giants

The mega-operators are being joined by data center operators Digital Realty and Irish group DataPlex, which all have buildings around Dublin.

Talking to the Irish Times recently Maurice Mortell, vice president of emerging markets and the country manager for Ireland at TeleCityGroup (now owned by Equinix), said: “The track record is there with a history of data centers in Ireland since the late 1990s. There is a well-worn road for infrastructure here, with a combination of factors that tick all the boxes.”

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Microsoft’s Grange Castle, Dublin Data Center

Mortell says Ireland ranks as the fourth-largest in Equinix’s European operations – in the sector generally, London, Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt are still all far ahead of Ireland. 

Digital Realty clients include global corporations, IT managed services and cloud providers, financial institutions, and multi-national technology firms. In June, Sungard Availability Services, a leading global provider in cloud and recovery services, announced an expansion in the Irish market through a partnership with Digital Realty.