The first annual BroadGroup Investing in Data Centres event was held yesterday at the Cass Business School in London, UK. The event featured presentations from senior executives directly involved in investment decisions, and was attended by investment bankers, property funds, VCs, corporate financiers, data center operators, regional development and investment agencies.

Presenters at the event said that much of the newly planned capacity will be focused on serving one or several large corporate clients. Other projects include developments for colocation, and business continuity and disaster recovery. There are also a number of smaller data centers being built to enable managed service providers and ISPs to either reduce their own costs, or use a data center to launch managed services.

"The Forum delivered rare information and insight into data center business opportunities and risks and presented a landscape where the fundamentals remain extremely strong," says Steve Wallage, managing director of BroadGroup Consulting. "Announcements of build also suggest the Forum is regarded as the new channel for senior level networking."

BroadGroup announced last month anticipates a constant demand for European data centers in the medium term and beyond.