The cost of services in commercial data centers in Moscow and St. Petersburg increased by 2% and 13% over the year

The cost of hosting data and renting racks in commercial data centers (DPCs) in Moscow and St. Petersburg over the year increased by 2% and 13%, respectively. The rise in prices in the capital was restrained by the commissioning of two large data centers, while in St. Petersburg construction is slower, and in other regions the market is just beginning to grow. Experts estimate its total volume at the end of the year at 42.8 billion rubles. with an increase of 21.2%. The construction of new facilities is hampered by problems with the supply of foreign equipment, but even if there is a surplus of capacity, their owners are unlikely to begin to reduce prices, market participants believe.

Kommersant got acquainted with a joint study by 3data and IKS-Consulting on the colocation market (placing server equipment in data centers and renting rack space) in Moscow and St. Petersburg at the end of 2023.

The authors assess the quarterly change in prices for the basic colocation service, as well as the level of consumer demand and supply for commercial data center infrastructure (3data colocation index). Thus, according to the results of the fourth quarter, in Moscow the average price for colocation (per month) increased by 2% compared to the same period in 2022 and amounted to 107.4 thousand rubles. Analysts note a more significant increase in prices in St. Petersburg, where year-on-year the average colocation price increased by 13%, to 84.1 thousand rubles.

3data explains the difference in price growth dynamics by the fact that in Moscow in 2023, significantly more server racks were put into operation than in St. Petersburg: about 9 thousand versus 400. At the same time, there is a shortage of supply in both regions. “Moscow and St. Petersburg are still the main data center locations, but we are seeing an increase in demand in other regions,” noted 3data.

In July, large companies began to transfer the processing of critical information from Moscow to data centers outside the Urals, and the demand for data storage in the Far East began to grow. Market participants explained this, among other things, by the increasing frequency of drone attacks on Moscow infrastructure (See Kommersant, July 26, 2023).

Rostelecom-DPC believes that demand for colocation in 2024 will continue to outstrip supply: consumers are either completely abandoning the independent construction of their data centers or postponing it. “It will be more difficult for companies to compete in the efficiency of infrastructure ownership with large data center operators because of their cost,” warns the company’s technical director Alexey Zabrodin.

But the general director of Uralenergotel, Alexey Belsky (the company builds data centers to order), on the contrary, believes that customers who have a need for data centers are more likely to create their own IT infrastructure rather than use external data centers. “These are large expenses, but at the same time the demand potential for 10–15 years is laid down,” he believes. We are talking about industrial enterprises, banks, IT companies, etc.

The hosting provider RUVDS adds that the colocation market is growing due to the refusal of Western cloud providers to serve clients from Russia: “The transition of clients to local companies creates an increase in demand from both Russian cloud providers and businesses.” RUVDS General Director Nikita Tsaplin emphasizes that the construction of new data centers is complicated by difficulties with the supply of foreign equipment.

If you look at the capital market, the commissioning of new capacities is carried out in waves, with peaks of commissioning in three to four years, recalls Vidiya Zheleznov, director for special projects of Atomdata JSC (Rosatom state corporation). According to his estimates, during 2023 and early 2024, the commissioning of new capacities in the capital will reach a historical maximum.

However, even if new capacities are actively introduced, the cost of colocation in Russia will continue to grow within 5–7%, believes Pavel Kulakov, founder of the data center and cloud provider Oxygen, as construction and labor costs increase. “Even if the market is in surplus, players will not reduce prices,” he believes.

Tatiana Isakova