What Data Centre World does

Data Centre World is a 45-year-old global conference and exhibition series serving the data centre industry, organized and co-produced by Informa PLC in partnership with AFCOM. Its core offering is a flagship annual conference held at Excel London, complemented by regional events in Washington D.C., Dallas, Paris, Vienna, and - as of September 2026 - Melbourne. The event combines multi-theatre conference programming (15 theatres, 450+ speakers) with an exhibition floor (500+ global exhibitors at the 2026 cycle) and a recurring awards ceremony. Programming emphasizes practical infrastructure concerns: energy efficiency, advanced cooling, modular design, AI-era infrastructure, cybersecurity, and digital sovereignty.

The business model is event-driven and operates on three revenue streams: attendee and exhibitor registration, multi-tiered sponsorship packages (Platinum/Gold/Silver plus theatre, keynote, and VIP Lounge sponsorships), and co-produced events such as the co-located AI Summit Series and Tech Show London aggregation. Marquee enterprise exhibitors and sponsors include ABB, Schneider Electric, Vertiv, Siemens, and the Open Compute Project Foundation, alongside data centre operators and infrastructure decision-makers (85% of visitors reportedly specify, influence, or sign off on purchasing decisions).

The brand is operated as a division within Informa PLC, the publicly listed events and publishing group, and is not separately capitalized. Distribution leverages Informa's global sales infrastructure, multi-channel digital marketing (LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, X, Facebook), and government and industry partnerships (e.g., Victorian Government as Government Partner for the Australian launch). The 2027 London flagship is already announced for March 10-11, 2027, indicating forward booking visibility typical of annual franchise event businesses.

Name

Data Centre World

Website

https://datacentreworld.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1981

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Data Centre World is a global 45-year-old conference and exhibition series for the data centre industry, co-produced by Informa PLC and AFCOM, serving operators, engineers, infrastructure leaders, and technology solution providers across flagship and regional events in London, Washington D.C., and Melbourne.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Conference Registration: Revenue generated from attendee registration fees for the annual conference events held at major convention centers in major cities globally.
2. Exhibitor and Sponsorship Packages: Revenue from companies that exhibit or sponsor the event, including theatre sponsorships, keynote sessions, and branded materials. Multiple sponsor tiers including Platinum, Gold, Silver sponsors and various theatre sponsors.
3. Co-produced Events: Co-producing events with partners like AFCOM and co-locating with The AI Summit series generates additional revenue through shared exhibition space and combined attendee registration.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Data Centre World operates large-scale B2B exhibitions and conferences for the global data centre industry, bringing together hyperscale, colocation, enterprise, and edge computing operators with technology vendors, suppliers, and service providers. Each event combines a multi-track conference programme, an exhibition floor, networking zones, and co-produced association content to support buying, selling, and thought-leadership exchange across the data centre ecosystem.

Product overview

Data Centre World is a conference and exhibition series for the data centre industry, consisting of the flagship annual event and regional events worldwide. The core offering includes the Data Centre World Conference featuring multi-theatre sessions and the Expo Hall with exhibitors showcasing data centre solutions. Add-on offerings include the Data Centre World Awards ceremony and specialized conference programmes. Regional variants include events in London, Washington D.C., Dallas, Vienna, and Australia, with some events co-located with related technology conferences such as The AI Summit, Cloud & AI Infrastructure, DevOps Live, Cloud & Cyber Security Expo, and Big Data & AI World.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The AI Summit Series: Co-located AI summit held alongside Data Centre World events in various locations.

Products and services

• Data Centre World London

Quantifiable outcome

• 31,200+ total visits recorded at Tech Show London 2026
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• The AI Summit SeriesflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 May 2026Data Centre World Australia and The AI Summit Australia announced a joint conference scheduled for September 7-9, 2026, at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. The events share keynote presentations and a joint exhibition hall while maintaining distinct conference tracks.
• Victorian GovernmentflagshipGTM or Marketing Partner · 23 March 2026The Victorian Government serves as Government Partner for the inaugural co-located Data Centre World Australia and The AI Summit Australia event, to be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from September 7-9, 2026.
• Informa PLCcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInforma PLC co-produces Data Centre World events. Data Centre World 2026 is co-produced by Informa PLC in partnership with AFCOM, marking a significant industry collaboration.
• AFCOMcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAFCOM partners with Informa PLC to co-produce Data Centre World events. AFCOM is a data centre industry association that provides industry expertise and audience to the partnership.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• AWS re:Invent: AWS re:Invent is the largest cloud infrastructure conference globally, drawing enterprise infrastructure and platform teams. While cloud-focused rather than on-prem data centre, it increasingly covers hybrid and on-prem infrastructure and competes with DCW for attention from infrastructure decision-makers.
• CES (Consumer Technology Association): CES is the world's largest consumer technology trade show. While consumer-electronics focused, it shares the large-scale trade show operational model, exhibitor/sponsor monetization structure, and global attendee draw that Data Centre World uses — making it a useful comparable for trade show economics.
• Cisco Live: Cisco Live is Cisco's flagship annual customer and partner conference featuring deep data centre, networking, and infrastructure content. While vendor-owned, it draws a similar network engineer and data centre infrastructure audience and competes with DCW for sponsor attention from networking and infrastructure vendors.
• Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo: Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is one of the largest enterprise IT conferences globally, attracting CIOs and infrastructure decision-makers who also attend Data Centre World. While broader in scope (covering all of enterprise IT), it competes for the same senior infrastructure buyer attendee and overlap with DCW's data centre strategy themes.

Others

• CloserStill Media: CloserStill Media operates Tech Show London, which co-locates Data Centre World London alongside Cloud Expo Europe, DevOps Live, and other tech events. It is a partner/operator for the London edition but runs a comparable portfolio of B2B technology trade shows, sharing the multi-show, co-location business model.
• Hannover Messe: Hannover Messe is the world's leading industrial trade fair, including dedicated halls for digital infrastructure, automation, and energy. It is comparable as a large multi-hall industrial B2B exhibition with similar exhibitor/sponsor monetization, though it serves a broader industrial audience than DCW's data centre focus.
• Mobile World Congress (GSMA): Mobile World Congress is the largest telecom infrastructure trade show globally, sharing DCW's operational model of co-located conferences, multi-region events, and high-value sponsorship tiers. While serving the telecom rather than data centre industry, its scale and economics make it a useful event-format comparable.

Direct peers

• BICSI: BICSI is a professional association for ICT infrastructure professionals that runs conferences and exhibitions covering data centre cabling, networking, and physical infrastructure. Its audience and exhibitor categories overlap meaningfully with Data Centre World's networking and infrastructure tracks.
• 7x24 Exchange: 7x24 Exchange is a long-standing data centre industry organization that runs conferences and chapter events for mission-critical facility professionals. It targets a closely overlapping attendee base (data centre operators, facilities engineers) and competes for the same exhibitor sponsorships.
• Datacenter Dynamics (DCD): Datacenter Dynamics operates a global portfolio of data centre industry events (DCD Connect, DCD>Talks, regional summits) targeting the same operator, engineer, and infrastructure buyer audience as Data Centre World. It is the most direct head-to-head competitor for both exhibitor wallets and attendee mindshare.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/datacentreworld
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@techshowlondon6568/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/datacentreworld
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/datacentreworld
• TikToktiktok.com/@techshowlondon

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Data Centre World