Data Gravity Index DGx™

About the Data Gravity Index™

As the largest global provider of multi-tenant datacenter capacity, Digital Realty has a unique vantage point on how technology infrastructure is built, deployed and operated. Our customers continue to solve the most complex infrastructure, connectivity and workload use cases on our platform globally. This includes use cases across network peering, hyperscale, low-latency, highperformance computing, big data and artificial intelligence.

Recently, we have witnessed the emergence of a new megatrend occurring on our platform: the explosion of enterprise data growth globally. This drove us to understand more. We conducted research between August 2019 and August 2020 and drew upon more than a dozen third-party data sources, ranging from the World Economic Forum and United Nations to global consulting and market research firms. We also developed a patent-pending formula to measure, quantify and determine the implications of the explosion of enterprise growth. The methodology is based on the analysis of thousands of attributes of Global 2000 Enterprise companies’ presences in each metro, along with variables for each metro, including GDP, population, number of employees, technographics, IT spend, average bandwidth and latency, as well as flows of data.

The Data Gravity Index DGx™ is an annual report designed to facilitate industry dialogue and assist both our Enterprise and Service Provider customers as they shift their infrastructure strategy to address this emerging megatrend. Version 1.5 expands to a total of 53 metros and 23 industries with new insights and forecasts on data creation, intensity and gravitational force of enterprise data growth.

Foreword

Data Gravity measured and quantified for the Global 2000 Enterprises

The Digital Economy

The digital economy is remaking both private and public enterprises across all industries, transforming how they create and deliver value.

Requires a New Business Architecture

To succeed, enterprises need to operate ubiquitously and on-demand, augmented by real-time intelligence to best serve customers, partners and employees across channels, business functions, and multiple points of business presence.

Data Gravity is the Obstacle

Data Gravity inhibits enterprise workflow performance, raises security concerns, and increases costs, all complicated by regulatory requirements and other artificial constraints. With Data Gravity, the laws of physics and IT intersect to provide a proxy for a new age of business architectures that Enterprises will be driven to adopt and Service Providers will be pressed to support.

Forces a Shift to Data-Centric Architecture

Data Gravity forces a new architecture, one that inverts traffic flow and brings users, networks and clouds to privately hosted enterprise data. With this new architecture, Data Gravity barriers are removed and new capabilities are unlocked.

Elevates the Role of a Multi-Tenant Datacenter

To implement this data-centric architecture, Enterprises and Service Providers need a secure, neutral meeting place to host their infrastructure in proximity to, yet separate from each other. A multi-tenant datacenter platform enables such a deployment paradigm