020 was a boom year for colocation. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies and organizations across the world moved en masse to a remote working model.  The companies increasingly turned to cloud computing and colocation data centers to support the new infrastructure. In addition, to make the transition to more flexible, dispersed working practices, and enable increased virtual collaboration and productivity. As the world begins to come out the other side of 2020’s unprecedented shifts and changes, colocation looks set to continue to have a leading role in data hosting and business infrastructure. Here are some of the major trends that look likely to define how data center colocation will work in 2021.

More than infrastructure

In 2020 colocation data centers moved beyond just being infrastructure providers. Services like Coloco now offer a different way of doing business. And is well set for continued and increasing importance in 2021. Leading providers will become legitimate partners in digital innovation and transformation, enabling serious enterprise-level change throughout organizations.

Sustainability

Sustainability and the green energy revolution promise to have a huge impact on the way organizations do business in 2021. From underwater data centers to alternative fuel cells, reducing carbon footprint has become an enormous consideration when it comes to data hosting. Data centers saw their workload skyrocket during the last decade. As colocation services are one of the “top users of green energy” according to the Environmental Protection Agency, this trend is only likely to continue.

Consolidation

With massive growth comes M&A interest, and consolidation is likely to become far more common in the next few years. Colocation centers have on the whole been getting bigger, looking to provide more functionality and potential for scaling, growth, and economies of scale. A recent Forrester report noted that multi-site colocation centers were increasingly attractive. So, more mergers and acquisitions in colocation are likely to happen in 2021.

Interconnectivity

Colocation thrives on interconnectivity, and as the industry continues to surge, interconnected data centers are going to be more and more important. Both providers and companies benefit from solid interconnectivity when it comes to colocation, so expect this trend to continue to grow as the market does the same.