These highly secure infrastructures have multiplied over the years. Indeed, ten years ago, the Lyon metropolitan area had only 1 data centre compared to 14 today. Behind this new market is a fierce financial battle.
The proof is in the fact that DCforData inaugurated its new DC just a few months ago in the 8ᵉ arrondissement of Lyon. With a surface area of 4,000 m² and already two rooms in use, "Rock" is one of the largest in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Its customers are mainly local authorities, large companies or digital service companies in the region. But the objective is also to attract national and even global firms.
Indeed, according to Nicolas Pitance, president of DCforData, "Lyon is located on a huge telecom artery. Everyone knows the Fourvière tunnel or the Part-Dieu station, well there is also a Telecom artery from north to south Europe towards Marseille." An opinion qualified by Samuel Triolet, director of Rezopole, "Lyon is not in an ideal geographical position [...] Paris is France, so we understand its appeal. In Marseille, many trans-Mediterranean and trans-oceanic fibres are exported to Africa, the Middle East and Asia. But in Lyon, there is no similar suction effect".
However, the value of storing these servers locally is very real. First of all, from a practical point of view, since a technical intervention will be much easier and faster if the data center is located close to the company. Second, it significantly reduces latency and data transmission time in a world where data protection is becoming increasingly important. And finally, the pooling of infrastructures allows companies to make savings. "It is important for French companies to host their services on national territory because it is a sovereign hosting: companies remain subject to French data control legislation, i.e. legislation that is stricter than in the United States and their Patrioct Act" confirms Cyrille Frantz Honegger, Director of Regional Relations at SFR. This telecom giant owns the "Net Center" data center located in Vénissieux on a 7,000 m² surface.
However, there is another threat to companies: hacking and data theft.
"The data center protects against people entering the building. But it is the people who run the servers who manage computer security [...] Attempts at intrusion by hackers, even we are permanently blocked! " explains Hervé Gilquin, a researcher in applied mathematics and in charge of a DC at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Lyon. This school and other public institutions have chosen to store internally. Since 2017, the ENS has had its own data centre connected to the Renater network, a research telecommunications network, in order to keep the data produced as close as possible. "Researchers are developing, we have to do daily work on the site, and with all the calculations we do, our servers are in permanent operation, it would be too expensive for us to outsource," adds Hervé Gilquin.
Indeed, these CDs and the resulting requirement are very expensive. The owners of these centres rely on private and public investment, even if the latter are relatively recent. "The metropolis took time to understand the economic interest of a data centre [...] For years, Lyon's economic players were convinced that it did not create jobs. But without a local data center, the companies will first export their IT management, then finance, then marketing and finally sales", explains Samuel Triolet. Nicolas Pitance, for his part, ironicizes "Let's say that it's not as visible and selling as a football stadium".
A strategic change of direction since, according to a study carried out by Cisco, the storage capacity of data centers should be doubled by 2021. This will further increase the ambitions of companies in this sector....
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Source : Médiacités
