VIDEO: Tony Bishop Discusses Data Gravity Megatrend on NYSE Floor Talk

Following the release of the Data Gravity Index, Tony Bishop (SVP of Platform, Growth and Marketing) was interviewed by Judy Shaw of New York Stock Exchange Floor Talk. In it, they discussed:

• The importance of recognizing Data Gravity as an unavoidable and growing megatrend
• The ways the Data Gravity Index will assist businesses and enterprises in addressing Data Gravity
• The Data Gravity Score and how it helps customers
• The plans for future Data Gravity Index updates and additions

Watch the video or read the interview transcript below.

If you have further questions about Data Gravity or the Data Gravity Index, contact one of our specialists today.

TRANSCRIPT:

Judy Shaw:
I'm Judy Shaw for NYSE Floor Talk. Joining me today is Tony Bishop. Tony is the SVP, Platform, Growth and Marketing at Digital Realty. Tony, it's so great to see you. Thanks for joining me.

Tony Bishop:
Thank you, Judy. I'm happy to be here.

Judy Shaw:
A quick note to our viewers. This interview is for informational purposes only. The NYSE doesn't recommend any investments or investment strategies. Now, Tony, DLR recently released the Data Gravity Index, DGX, a first of its kind report exposing a key megatrend impacting enterprise growth. Tell me, what is Data Gravity? Why does it matter, and what is amplifying it today?

Tony Bishop:
Absolutely. I would start out, Judy, by having the audience think about it as an invisible emerging megatrend, right? And it's invisible because as we use more digital technology and applications, as more applications create more data, and more data needs to be exchanged with more applications, the gravitational effect of that data being needed to be able to work back and forth is increasing in volume, velocity, and scale.

Judy Shaw:
Okay. Now what does the Data Gravity Index offer, and what are some of the key findings?

Tony Bishop:
Data Gravity Index offers unique insights to understanding how Data Gravity emerges within a firm, the intensity of it, how it's growing, and where it's growing.

Judy Shaw:
All right, now, Tony, how long has DLR been working on cracking the Data Gravity code?

Tony Bishop:
It's probably the secret behind the report itself. This has been more than a year's worth of effort. It started with the fact that we were... as the largest provider of multi-tenant data center capacity, square footage wise in the world... Judy, we're blessed that we sit with a unique vantage point. That vantage point is that we're able to see how the large cloud content carriers and enterprises build their technology infrastructure and connect it. And about a year ago, we started to see an emerging deployment behavior change. And that was specifically where enterprises were starting to build larger data footprints, where they were storing data. And as we started to investigate with those customers and others, and talk with industry analysts and partners, we started to see that this was becoming something that was going to be very repeatable.

What we were able to find was how data is created, processed, aggregated, stored, and then analyzed and enriched for intelligence, is what's causing this amplification. So, the report breaks it down, the report then quantifies this, provides a formula, and then measures the intensity across the top 21 metros globally. The last thing I would share with the audience around that, is that we focused using the Forbes Global 2000 companies as the proxy. And we did that because they're the large largest procurers of IT infrastructure in the world. They have operations in all parts of the world, and they have the greatest complexity of infrastructure needs. So, we felt that that was relevant for all enterprises.

Judy Shaw:
Tony, how does the Data Gravity score help your customers?

Tony Bishop:
The Data Gravity score provides a benchmark where the intensity of data and the creation and aggregation of that data is happening in major metros around the world. So as an enterprise I'm able to, or a customer, I'm able to take and compare and contrast my infrastructure growth and relevance against how it's growing for others, similar to my type of firm in the metros that the report has identified.

Judy Shaw:
What's next for the Data Gravity Index?

Tony Bishop:
What's next is you're going to see it evolve into many more metros, not just the top 21 metros. You're going to see an unpacking of industries, because there's specific unique requirements by industry that we found. And then you're also going to see us unfold it into firms that are of less size than the Forbes Global 2000 that we used as the proxy for the benchmark as we go forward with it.

Judy Shaw:
All right. And finally, Tony, what are the implications of Data Gravity on the digital economy?

Tony Bishop:
Absolutely, Judy, it's sort of like the “So what?” of all this. What's exciting is, as you think about social, mobile, analytics, cloud and things, technology-wise, permeating across business processes of every enterprise and unlocking new capabilities, Data Gravity is becoming very relevant. And what it's going to do is force businesses to rearchitect how they do business around their data flows, not their physical infrastructure. And that means the technology infrastructure is going to be needed to be organized around a data-centric view that aligns to that new business architecture. It becomes very important because the firms who figure this out are those that are going to unlock new data-driven opportunities, whether it's monetization, productivity, or cost savings. So, it's definitely something that is very relevant for everybody. It's going to affect every firm. And whether you're in the C-suite, the boardroom, or you're in the IT department, you'll need to take a look at this.

Judy Shaw:
Tony, it's been great to talk with you. Thanks for joining me on NYSE Floor Talk.

Tony Bishop:
Absolutely. Thank you, Judy, for having us.