Top 10: Data Centre Leaders in the UK & Europe
The data centre industry in the UK and Europe is driven by a strong desire to decrease emissions and increase digitalisation, while maximising security.
At the forefront of this sector are these ten leaders who are shaping the future of digital ecosystems with their exceptional leadership, startling innovation and experienced insight.
10. Huw Owen, CEO, Ark
Revenue: US$75m
Employees: 200
Headquarters: Wiltshire, UK
Founded: 2005
Ark Data Centres has made huge strides in minimising its environmental impact, without compromising its offerings.
CEO Huw Owne has had a varied career, he worked in Cambodia with the UN, was CEO of ATLAS Consortium, Managing Director & Regional Vice President of HP's UK Defence business, President of BT Global Healthcare and spent time in the Royal Hong Kong Police as a Detective Inspector. He is also a qualified lawyer.
9. Antoine Boniface, CEO, Vantage
Employees: 700
Headquarters: Denver, Colorado
Founded: 2010
Vantage Data Centers is a hyperscale data centre solutions leader, which offers scalable, energy-efficient infrastructure for cloud providers, enterprises and more. Vantage is dedicated to sustainability and expanding on its operational excellence.
“Proud to announce Vantage Data Centers has raised US$11bn of equity over the last nine months,” he recently shared on LinkedIn. “We cannot be in a better position to support the expansion requirements of our strategic customers.”
8. Dominic Ward, CEO, Verne
Employees: 50
Headquarters: Keflavík, Iceland
Founded: 2012
Verne Global specialises in high-performance computing and AI workloads, which is helped along by Iceland's remarkable renewable energy resources which offer cost-effective and environmentally responsible infrastructure.
CEO Dominic Ward recently shared his excitement of Verne’s partnership with VAXA Technologies Ltd., which will offset carbon emissions.
“Even though our sustainable data centre operations are powered entirely with 100% renewable energy, we are collaborating with VAXA Technologies Iceland to offset our residual Scope 1, 2, and 3 greenhouse gas emissions,” he posted.
7. Neil Cresswell, CEO, Virtus
Employees: 200
Headquarters: London
Founded: 2008
Virtus Data Centres offers high-performance, scalable data centre solutions to enterprise and cloud clients. Virtus’ carrier-neutral sites offer exceptional connectivity and flexibility. CEO Neil Cresswell is dedicated to Virtus becoming carbon neutral by 2030.
“Virtus’ focus is to support the evolving requirements of our customers, wherever they need them and the burgeoning demand for AI-ready data infrastructure,” said Neil. “We are dedicated to being at the forefront of supporting businesses on their digital transformation journeys, whilst ensuring that our data centres are built to the highest sustainability standards.”
6. Takayo Takamuro, Telehouse
Employees: 500
Founded: 1989
Telehouse is a subsidiary of KDDI Corporation, is a pioneering force in the data centre sector, with a global network spanning 11 countries.
Takayo Takamuro is the Managing Director of KDDI Europe and European Chief Executive. She shared that Telehouse is undergoing a transformation to help the company achieve greater operational and customer experience excellence.
“As a global colocation provider known for its unrivalled connectivity, we continuously strive to drive our interconnection strategy forward and into new areas, with all the newly appointed senior members supporting the business to achieve this goal,” she shared.
5. Michel van den Assem, Digital Realty
Revenue: US$4bn
Employees: 3,000
CEO: Andy Power
Founded: 2004
Digital Realty's PlatformDIGITAL® offers a suite of data centre, colocation and interconnection services and is targeting carbon neutrality by 2030. Digital Realty is the only data centre platform on the island of Crete and the most south-eastern data centre in Europe. This gives the company a strong Mediterranean presence and links with Asia, the Middle East and East Africa, through a dense network of subsea cables.
As SVP at Digital Realty, Michel van den Assem has 25 years of experience in leading organisations through different stages of growth and economic circumstances and specialises in operational management.
4. Wayne Louw, NTT GDC
Revenue: US$1.5bn
Employees: 6,000
CEO: Sharad Sanghi
Founded: 1997
Carrier neutral operator NTT gives access to cloud providers across North America, Europe, Africa and India. NTT Global Data Centers provides solutions for specialised infrastructure requirements, across its 95 data centres.
We included NTT in our Top 10: Colocation Companies, for its best practices in design and operations across all their scalable and customisable data centres.
Vice President of Data Center Operations EMEA, Wayne Louw, is based in London and has a range of experiences, including as an Account Manager for Norland Managed Services and Operations Director at Global Switch.
3. Bruce Owen, Equinix
Revenue: US$8bn
Employees: 13,151
Based in: Ireland
Equinix is a global trailblazer in digital infrastructure, operating over 240 data centres across 32 countries.
At Equinix, Bruce has held multiple leadership positions, in both EMEA and the US, with his experiences ranging from corporate development, finance, strategy and execution of Equinix's global Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB), Wellbeing and Community Impact efforts.
“I am very proud to serve as the President of the Equinix Foundation, which partners with organisations to advance digital inclusion by providing access to technology and connectivity, as well as developing the skills required for careers in technology,” he said.
2. Olivier Micheli, DATA4 Group
Revenue: US$24m
Employees: 152
Founded: 2006
Data4 has 340MW of resources and a volume of land reserves and power capacity which is unique in the European data centre market. Data4 developed its strategies around three pillars of growth: Scalability, Quality and Sustainability.
Olivier Micheli was appointed CEO of DATA4 Group in November 2014. He previously won the “First 100 days” prize from KPMG and EIM. In 2016, Olivier became chair of France Datacenter, an association which unites every data centre stakeholder in France and advances the sector as a pillar of the digital economy. He is a member of other boards, including Qarnot Computing and Sorbonne Université.
The company has just opened a new market in Europe, with Data4 Greece.
“Since inception, international expansion has been part of our strategic roadmap,” he shared on LinkedIn. “We are now in six countries. Hopefully more to come as we have space and power to double our investments.”
1. John Eland, Stack Infrastructure
Revenue: US$176m
Employees: 1,000
Headquarters: Denver, Colorado
CEO: Brian Cox
Founded: 2019
Scalable data centre solution provider Stack Infrastructure supports hyperscale and enterprise clients, with a focus on building top tier infrastructure.
Now Chief Executive Officer of STACK’s EMEA region, Eland entered the data centre sector around 15 years ago.
“There really wasn't much of an industry as we know it today and in terms of educational path there was really no route directly into the data centre industry. For me, it was a focus on the international business arena and general business management,” he told us in a previous interview.
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