Strengths

Scotland has many advantages to offer companies looking to move an existing data centre or establish a new one.

Skills and expertise

  • A steady stream of IT graduates from Scotland’s world-class universities
  • Highly competitive staffing costs coupled with the most flexible market regulations in Europe
  • A large, local pool of highly qualified IT staff

Environmentally sound

  • The Scottish Government is committed to greater use of renewable energy and has set a target of 100 percent of Scottish electricity demand to be from renewable sources by 2020
  • Renewable Obligations Certificates (ROC) are mechanisms via which electricity generators or suppliers satisfies an annual obligation to produce an agreed percentage of its electricity from renewable sources
  • The country is also viewed as a low security risk both in terms of terrorist activity and its potential exposure to environmental or climatic disasters

High-quality support infrastructure

  • In June 2011, the UK was named one of the lowest-risk data centre locations in the world, based upon factors such as low chance of natural disaster occurence, a stable political climate and infrastructure and an excellent bandwith connectivity
  • A highly robust and resilient electricity supply, as well as a comprehensive IT and technical support infrastructure
  • Fast optical fibre connectivity available in a number of cities and key locations and broadband access in every corner of the country
  • Ready access to hardware and supporting technology architecture and infrastructure via leading global technology companies based in Scotland, such as Microsoft, Cisco, Sun Microsystems, IBM & Hewlett Packard
  • High levels of public sector support to facilitate growth, from initial set-up through to aftercare, contact us to find out more

Cost-competitive

  • Potential annual savings of 20-30 per cent per data centre due to:
    • Lower power requirements thanks to cooler air temperatures
    • Lower average salaries and property prices
    • Companies can claim 100 percent first year tax credits for designated energy-saving and environmentally beneficial plant and machinery and 100 percent allowances for a range of low-impact and green technologies
    • Supportive funding environment includes grants to leverage return on investment