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    HomeCloud/NFVMEEZA to almost double data centre capacity to meet Qatari demand

    MEEZA to almost double data centre capacity to meet Qatari demand

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    Company has capacity of 24.4MW from five data centres; plans 19.5MW more by end of 2026 as IaaS demand soars

    MEEZA is to increase its data centre capacity from 24.4MW now by 19.5MW by the end of 2026 and today lists on the Qatar Stock Exchange. It leads the Qatari market, with about 50% market share based on estimates of the country’s total supply capacity, according to Gulf Times.

    Communications service provider (CSP) Ooredoo operates five data centres with an estimated supply capacity of 22MW or about 46% market share based on market estimates, so roughly on a par with MEEZA. Mannai ICT – an IT solutions company – operates a single data centre or about 4% of the market.

    Growing demand

    A recent market study commissioned by MEEZA found that the demand for colocation and hosting is expected to rise from $129 million in 2022 to $163 million in 2026. Demand for IaaS is expected to soar from $71 million in 2022 to $279 million in 2026 – a huge opportunity if the company can supply the capacity.

    Qatar’s data centre market accounted for just 0.12% of the global data centre market in 2022 but, in line with the global trends, is expected to grow by 13.3% pa from 40MW last year to 66MW in 2026.

    The Gulf Times’ report also says that spending in Qatar on data centre systems and data centre IT-related services is expected to rise from $0.86 billion in 2022 to $1.28 billion in 2026. It will be mainly driven by: digital business process as a service (BPaaS); data centre services, desktop as a service (DaaS); data centre systems support; IaaS, and managed application services.

    Cybersecurity is poised for the same growth dynamic, with demand in the country for cyber security services expected to increase by 10.6% annually, from $347 million in 2022 to $520 million in 2026.

    National transformation

    According to the Ministry of Communications data, ICT contributes about 1.9% of Qatar’s gross domestic product. On-going efforts to efforts to digitally transform the country and build a knowledge-based economy means that investments in the sector, and in particular cloud computing, are at their highest ever level.