Companies in these regions and around the world continue to outsource their data center operations, driving healthy growth in both wholesale and retail outsourcing.
 
While revenue (USD) also saw a decent increase of nearly 5% in the first quarter, it was slightly slower than the typical double-digit growth seen in recent quarters. However, this was largely due to the weakening euro against the dollar. In addition to revenue, which is subject to fluctuating exchange rates, the IHS Intelligence Service, which covers the multi-tenant data center market, also tracks customer space and capacity, which are unaffected by foreign currency movements.
 
IHS expects continued MTDC revenue growth, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 8.2% through 2019 in constant dollars. Liz Cruz, who tracks the market for IHS, comments that "growth stems from the expectation that companies will continue to seek ways to reduce the capital expenditures required to build and maintain company-owned data centers. Companies are increasingly opting to outsource operations to MTDC providers, thereby shifting these expenses to the operating column. Furthermore, the ability to add data center space on demand is attractive to all companies whose IT needs will grow at a much faster rate than the rate at which new data centers can be built, which typically takes around two years."
 
While the outlook is optimistic, risks remain, including the over-construction of MTDC facilities (reminiscent of the dot-com era) and the commoditization of service offerings. Multi-tenant data centers are working to differentiate themselves and add value by focusing more on managed service offerings and the opportunity for interconnections between clients.

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