DANIEL THORPE
CLOUD & COLOCATION
he cloud has transformed how businesses and consumers think about compute – as a resource available on demand, detached from any single location. Behind that abstraction sits a physical estate of data centres, and the rapid expansion of AI is reshaping demand for that infrastructure at a scale not previously experienced in the sector.
As compute requirements increase, pressure continues to build across every foundational input: energy systems, cooling capacity, land availability and regulatory frameworks.
At the same time, grid connection timelines in major global markets have become a critical constraint. In some regions, these now range from approximately two years to as long as a decade, significantly slowing the pace at which new cloud capacity can be delivered. This structural mismatch between demand growth and infrastructure delivery is becoming increasingly central to long-term planning across the sector.
Within this environment, orbital data centres are emerging in longer-range scenario planning as a potential extension of the cloud beyond Earth. While still conceptual, they are now being considered as part of a hybrid Earth – space compute architecture, particularly for workloads that may not require real-time responsiveness. Speaking exclusively to Data Centre Magazine, Daniel Thorpe, EMEA Head of Data Centre Research at JLL, sets out why orbital infrastructure is entering the conversation, what is holding it back and where it could sit alongside the terrestrial cloud.
DANIEL THORPE
TITLE: HEAD OF EMEA DATA CENTRE RESEARCH
COMPANY: JLL INDUSTRY: RESEARCH
Daniel is responsible for shaping, leading and executing a connected, holistic research programme for data centres across the EMEA region – focusing on the trends and developments across both enterprise and hyperscale sectors.
56 October 2026