Henry Sutton is the Founder of the Gulf Data Centre Association (GDCA) and the Director at data centre specialists, TechRE Middle East Consulting, based in Bahrain. Henry has extensive experience working across the data centre EMEA market, including delivering and managing projects across the Middle East. These projects include hyperscale site selection, market intelligence reporting, joint venture sourcing and negotiations and renewables-powered data centre schemes.
Prior to establishing TechRE Middle East Consulting in early 2021, Henry was Associate Director at TechRE UK where he delivered and led projects across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, East Africa, and all countries across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the Middle East. Henry launched the GDCA in September 2022, a trade organisation designed to promote the data centre sector for associated businesses operating across the GCC.
Henry is a frequent speaker at data centre events, including Data Cloud Global Congress in Monaco, and has published leading data centre market reports for the Middle East. Henry graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a master’s degree in Arabic and was born and raised in the UAE.
GDCA Founder’s Message 2025
The GDCA was established to create a region-wide forum that supports the growth of the data centre industry in the GCC, offering a platform for collaboration and transparency in a region that has rapidly evolved into a leading emerging market and a front-runner in digitalisation.
It is hard to believe how quickly the last two years have passed since we launched the GDCA in September 2022. Watching our association flourish has been truly exciting and we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our members and sponsors for their invaluable support throughout this journey.
We take great pride in the community we have built here at the GDCA and in the milestones we have achieved over the past two years. We launched GDCA People, hosted over 30 events, have grown our membership to 1,700 members, and elevated our association to the global stage at the Data Cloud Global Congress 2024 in Cannes. Most excitingly, following the success of last year, we held our second edition of Touchdown Middle East. We are thrilled with the progress the GDCA has made and the incredible momentum we continue to build.
None of this would have been possible without the continued support of our sponsors and supporters, so once again, a heartfelt thank you for helping make the GDCA what it is today.
As we look forward to 2025, our mission is to launch our GDCA Hubs across the region, enabling the international data centre community to join our friendly GCC ecosystem in dedicated workspace environments across multiple GCC cities. We are also excited to introduce our GDCA Academy, which will support the training and development of next-generation data centre professionals. Above all, we are committed to continuing our growth and strengthening our goal of regional success and collaboration.
Henry Sutton, Founder, GDCA.