Castles in the air: The rise of cloud storage centres

The internet is creating huge demand for real estate in the form of data centres, and last year Dublin alone accounted for 25 per cent of the overall European industry market share

The data centre industry in Ireland is growing rapidly, with estimates the that capacity here will double in the next five years

For many people, data storage is a bit like heaven. They think it is up in the cloud. But down on earth, the reality is way different.

Ironically, at a time when commentators are highlighting the threat posed by online retail sales to the retail property market, the internet is creating huge demand for real estate in the form of millions of square metres of data centres.

And Ireland, especially Dublin, has become ...