CyrusOne EVP on strategy, sustainability and global growth

One year into his role as EVP and chief strategy officer, CyrusOne’s Krupal Raval is very optimistic about the company’s outlook.

Speaking with Capacity recently, he credits CyrusOne’s success to having a clear strategy and being able to look at the bigger industry picture. The company garners plenty of confidence when presenting deals to its customers, with the wide belief that they will actually deliver what they say they will deliver – a testament to 25 years of operating and constructing data centres.

“It’s been so much fun. I’m grateful that I’ve worked at Digital Realty and Equinix, but [CyrusOne] is the best team I’ve ever worked with,” he said. “In terms of what we’re doing strategically, the big accomplishment is really building out this multi-capable pipeline.”

Aligning with the big picture

CyrusOne prides itself on having industry-leading energy solutions, partnering with some of the leading energy investors worldwide, like Calpine, Constellation and Energy Capital Partners (ECP). The company has done this to confront global grid capacity constraints and the high-power demands associated with AI technologies.

“We had the foresight to secure our capacity by working alongside the best,” Raval explained. “When we’re providing our solution, our customers now have confidence that – when we build data centres – we have legitimate behind-the-meter solutions.”

Amidst the rapid digital transformation, CyrusOne has made several business changes. This includes bringing its US data centre operations in-house. This involved ending a significant part of its JLL outsourcing agreement and expects to complete the transition by August this year.

Raval said the decision was made to support the natural growth and evolution of where the business is in its lifecycle.

“Our customers, when they contract with us, take a lot of comfort knowing they work with CyrusOne, because we take great pains to be best-in-class in everything we do,” he said. “The ethos of the company – really being in a service mindset, being in service to our customers – meant this felt like a natural next step.”

He added: “We have a fantastic partnership with JLL – a lot of these people have now joined CyrusOne as employees to ensure a seamless transition for our customers.”

Maintaining a sustainable ethos

With CyrusOne enjoying much success, its critical priority for its customers and the communities it operates in is to confront challenges posed by new market entrants.

“We’re living in the most amazing time in the history of this business. Data centre growth is so explosive, and we’re very fortunate to have been long-term veterans in the space,” Raval said. “The sector is healthy enough that there are going to be many winners, but there are also a lot of folks heavily motivated by the number of zeros in a deal, and some are cutting corners, rather than building the most energy-efficient or water-efficient data centres.”

Looking ahead, Raval explained that community engagement will be the most important thing for CyrusOne. Currently, there is a public narrative that is anti-data centre development, as public attention falls on the worst-in-class facilities.

“That’s something we as an industry are going to have to tackle going forward. Collaboration and education are key,” he added. “We need to help communities understand that, when we make these investments, we’re not taking all the water or increasing power rates for the average person. We’re paying our fair share and then some, and the transmission and distribution upgrades we invest in benefit everyone.”

To ensure that sustainability remains critical to its ethos, CyrusOne is committed to enhancing its genuine commitment to being a steward of the planet and its resources. Specifically, when it comes to water use – something that is heavily publicised about the data centre sector – CyrusOne’s closed-loop system means its use is limited.

“It’s my passion to help build a future where we’re not destroying the planet to serve our customers or to make money,” Raval said. “We’re still tracking towards our aim of being 100% carbon-free by 2030. When our partners are building behind-the-meter solutions, the fuel is natural gas, which is substantially cleaner than the grid mix, but it is still a hydrocarbon. We’ll need to continue supporting the carbon-free story by purchasing credits and so forth.”

Long-term, the company is excited to learn how to be part of microgrids that are green and renewable, Raval said, whether that includes wind and solar with battery storage, or being part of the nuclear renaissance.

“SMRs are not yet commercial, but if we can be part of the story that helps bring them to commercial scale, we’re thrilled to do that,” he added.

Scaling for success

In addition to its energy-positive partnerships, CyrusOne is looking to grow even further to build future-leading infrastructure.

The company recently entered the growing Italian data centre market, building its first site there. A rapidly growing market alongside the traditional FLAP-D locations, CyrusOne has entered Milan first to support customer development in that region.

“Our customers look to us and say these are the markets where they want to grow, and as stewards of our investors’ capital, we have very involved conversations with customers to make sure we’re serving them in markets with genuine need, and that we’re not oversaturating the market by being one of many developers,” Raval explained. “There’s a good amount of development [in Milan], and the need is greater still. That gave us the confidence that we’re not overbuilding.”

What gives CyrusOne its edge in the industry right now, Raval said, is its solutions-driven mindset.

“It really comes down to the people,” he said. “Of course, having KKR and BlackRock as investors is a significant advantage, and our track record speaks for itself – but I think these are a decided second to having a truly best-in-class team.”

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