Jon Eaves , Founder and CEO of Edge Centres , talks solar power , modular design , and taking the future of the internet “ off-grid ”
EDGE CENTRES
Jon Eaves , Founder and CEO of Edge Centres , talks solar power , modular design , and taking the future of the internet “ off-grid ”
The global digital infrastructure industry is evolving . From Silicon Valley to Nairobi , the growing demand for interconnection and data centre services is simultaneously pushing the industry in two independent directions . “ In the market right now , it ’ s obvious to me that there are the two main asset classes : the hyperscale facilities and the decentralised edge . Traditional colocation assets are also a part of the market , but the sector is definitely in decline ,” explains Jon Eaves , the founder and CEO of Edge Centres . Eaves , who has spent the last two decades building data centres and web hosting services throughout Australia and the Middle East , recently turned his attention to that second group of assets : data centres at the decentralised edge . “ Rather than go into the hyperscale market , which is very heavily populated in Australia - Sydney alone has more than 100 data centre facilities of which 20 are hyperscale , which is epic - we ’ re looking at the edge ,” he says .
Eaves ’ new company , Edge Centres , launched earlier this year , and is currently on the cusp of a sizable rollout across Australia . They ’ re hoping to capitalise , Eaves explains , on what he calls the “ edge wave ”, an imminent boom of regional digital infrastructure set to transform connectivity in the country forever . In the process , through adversity thrown up by the COVID- 19 pandemic , regulatory restrictions , and
20 October 2021