McCulloch champions the data centre as being integral to supporting VR, but also stresses the importance for operators to understand the culture of the technology and the markets it serves: “The emergence of VR represents a potentially lucrative opportunity for the data centre market. In order to capture this it’s imperative that the necessary infrastructure is in place to support not only gaming but other sectors including sports, television as well as marketing and advertising.

“Understanding the culture of the technology, its consumption patterns across different sectors as well as assessing key security concerns will be critical. From an infrastructure perspective, speed and connectivity will be essential. Traditionally, one of the complaints thrown at VR has been its inability to handle the demands placed on it. Having dedicated fibre connections to key Internet Exchanges will enable customers to benefit from high connectivity and speeds, allowing the user to have a seamless, unhindered experience.”

McCulloch concluded: “Additionally, as data streams created by VR continue to rise, we’ll likely see a greater emphasis on organisations needing high performance computing (HPC) capabilities in place, to ensure applications are able to run efficiently, reliably and quickly. By having the necessary data halls, which can deliver the high-density power and cooling required for the next generation of platforms such as HPC, customers can be reassured that the right capabilities are in place to grow their estates and help maximise the potential of VR amongst key everyday experiences.”