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ABOUT
Data Centres
Data centres sit at the heart of the global digital economy. They support cloud computing, artificial intelligence, telecommunications networks, financial systems and critical business operations across every sector. As data centre capacity continues to expand globally, so too does the size and complexity of the losses arising from outages, physical damage events, equipment failures, utility interruptions, cyber incidents and infrastructure failures.
When a data centre loss occurs, insurers, brokers, adjusters and legal teams require specialists who understand both the financial mechanics of the business and the technical dependencies that drive operations.
MDD’s Data Centre specialists combine forensic accounting expertise with global technical resources to analyse complex losses involving co-location facilities, hyperscale operators, cloud service providers and supporting infrastructure. We help clients understand the financial impact of outages, quantify losses accurately and support the efficient resolution of claims.
Building on our internal research and experience, we recognise that data centres generate revenue through a combination of capacity leasing, connectivity services and managed technology solutions, each creating unique loss measurement challenges.
HIRE US
Our global experts are available to respond immediately when a data centre incident occurs.
Data centre losses often extend far beyond physical damage. An interruption to power supply, cooling systems, network infrastructure or supporting utilities can affect multiple customers simultaneously and trigger significant business interruption, extra expense and liability exposures.
Our specialists understand the commercial and operational drivers behind modern data centre businesses, including:
Co-location / Space & Power Leasing
Customers lease rack space, cages, suites or dedicated capacity within a facility. Revenue is commonly derived from:
- Contracted power capacity (kW commitments)
- Rack and floor space rentals
- Dedicated suites and private environments
- Customer-specific infrastructure arrangements
We assess how interruptions impact contracted customer capacity, future occupancy and associated revenue streams. We also evaluate the implications of service credits, contractual obligations and customer retention issues.
Connectivity & Interconnection Services
Many facilities generate significant income through network connectivity and interconnection services.
These revenues may include:
- Carrier interconnection fees
- Cross-connect charges
- Internet exchange services
- Cloud connectivity charges
- Network transit arrangements
Our experts analyse how outages impact connectivity-related revenues, contractual commitments and customer obligations while evaluating any corresponding mitigation measures.
Managed Hosting & Cloud Services
Data centre operators increasingly provide managed services beyond physical infrastructure, including:
- Managed hosting
- Cloud services
- Cyber security solutions
- Backup and disaster recovery services
- Infrastructure monitoring and support
We help quantify revenue interruptions, additional operating costs and customer impacts arising from service degradation, partial outages or complete operational shutdown.
POWER INFRASTRUCTURE & RESILIENCE
Understanding the Most Critical Risk
Power is often the single largest operating cost and one of the most significant operational dependencies for a data centre.
Unlike many businesses, data centres require continuous, uninterrupted electricity supply with virtually no tolerance for downtime. Modern facilities rely upon complex layers of resilience including:
- Utility feeds
- Substations and transformers
- Backup generators
- Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems
- Battery storage
- Redundant distribution paths
- Fuel supply arrangements
The availability and cost of power can vary significantly by jurisdiction and local market conditions. Capacity constraints, electricity pricing, transmission infrastructure and utility reliability all influence both operations and claims outcomes.
MDD regularly works with energy and power clients throughout the world on losses pertaining to:
- Power generation failures
- Grid outages and utility interruptions
- Transmission and distribution issues
- Generator and backup system failures
- Transformer damage and replacement timing
- Temporary power solutions
- Increased operational costs arising from recovery efforts
HOW WE HELP
Our Data Centre loss specialists provide services including:
- Responding immediately following a loss event
- Participating in strategy discussions during the earliest stages of an incident
- Understanding the facility’s revenue model and operational dependencies
- Quantifying business interruption losses
- Measuring impacts on space, power and capacity revenues
- Assessing connectivity and interconnection revenue impacts
- Evaluating managed service and cloud-related losses
- Analysing service credit obligations and contractual exposures
- Measuring increased costs associated with failover and resilience strategies
- Evaluating mitigation efforts undertaken to maintain customer service levels
- Assessing saved costs and operational efficiencies resulting from downtime
- Reviewing customer contracts, SLAs and service obligations
- Supporting litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution matters
- Providing expert reports and testimony where required
WHY MDD
Data centre claims require specialists capable of bridging the gap between technical infrastructure and financial loss measurement.
Our team combines:
- Global forensic accounting expertise
- Business interruption specialists
- Cyber and technology loss experience
- Power generation and energy market knowledge
- Industry-specific loss methodologies
- International resources capable of responding anywhere in the world
Whether the loss involves a co-location facility, hyperscale operator, cloud provider, utility outage, infrastructure failure or large-scale catastrophe event, MDD provides the expertise needed to help clients understand, quantify and resolve complex data centre losses.
Our integrated multidisciplinary teams with subject-matter experts from our Property, Construction, Energy, and Cyber teams allows us to leverage shared expertise and deliver a client-focused approach when assessing data centre losses.
KEY CONTACTS
APAC – Andreea Ilie, Sarah Chick
Middle East – Edward Secchi
EMEA – Markus Heiss, Chris Wigley
USA – Kevin Flaherty, Kent Bogdan, Dave Elmore
LATAM – Marcelo Fazio, Jessica Feola
OUR TEAM
TEAM INFORMATION
Contact our team members using the details below. These contacts simply supplement
any MDD contacts you may already use to help find the resources you need.
Services
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