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On HawkPodcast 27 David and I look back at HawkPodcast 20, where we made our predictions for 2020, see what we got right, what we missed, and how COVID-19 has impacted them. (spoiler: we didn’t predict a global pandemic would occur.)

Here are a few quick takeaways from our conversation as well as links to what we talked about below.

Data center facilities continue operating despite COVID-19 challenges

Data center operators have figured out how to move forward in the midst of the pandemic. We feel bullish on the amount of activity that has already taken place in 2Q 2020 and believe that COVID-19 hasn’t materially impacted data center operator’s ability to bring supply online.

Virtual tours and remote monitoring highlight flexibility as data center operators look for new ways to attract and service customers

COVID-19 is changing business as we know it and has caused data center operators to take a different approach to some of their norms. For example, some major operators have created virtual tours for their data centers, such as Aligned Energy, Stream Data Centers, & Equinix. Operators with robust remote monitoring systems in place are seeing usage increase dramatically and those who do not are moving to implement them.

A look toward the second half of 2020 in the data center industry

Toward the end of the episode, we discuss where the data center industry is headed in 2020. A couple of predictions that we discuss are, large cloud service providers leasing activity will be increased when compared to 2019, due in part to COVID-19. A little less M&A activity in the first half of 2020, but we expect there to be more in the second half.

Links to what we talked about:

• HawkPodcast 20 - 2020 Predictions
• HawkPodcast 24 - COVID-19’s Impact on the Data Center Industry

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our HawkPodcasts and don’t miss out on our latest release of market data for the data center industry.