Data Center Market Continues to Grow (DRT)

Brian Wood Blog

Good news: Our market is growing!

The succinct DRT press release re-posted below has all the key takeaways highlighted in red (by me).

Brian Wood, VP Marketing

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Digital Realty Announces Results Of Annual North American Data Center Demand Survey

Independent study commissioned by Digital Realty indicates continued strong growth driven by industry demand for increased security, energy efficiency, new applications/services, and more space

SAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 2013 — Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR), a leading global provider of data center solutions, has released key findings from its annual study of the North American data center market. The research was conducted on behalf of Digital Realty by Campos Research & Analysis, an independent research firm.

The survey of senior leadership at large corporations in North America indicates continued strong growth for the data center industry in 2013 and 2014:

  • Nearly all respondents, 98 percent, indicate that they plan to expand their data centers in 2013 or 2014. This is the highest percentage in the seven years that Digital Realty has sponsored the survey;
  • The most important reasons given for data center expansion are (in order of priority) the need for increased security, energy efficiency, new applications/services, and more space;
  • One of the key motivators for expansion is implementing an internal (private) cloud. Three in five (61 percent) said that this is an extremely important reason for expanding their data centers;
  • The trend is toward larger data centers with the following attributes:
    • More raised floor space (18,500 square feet on average, compared to 17,200 square feet in last year’s survey);
    • More power (62 percent want 2.0MW or more, compared to 49 percent a year ago);
    • Cooling efficiency is getting more attention. Specifically, more are using hot or cold aisle containment (80 percent) this year than in 2012 (74 percent); and
  • Data center budgets continue to grow. The average increase in data center budgets is 7.7 percent, compared to 7.2 percent in last year’s survey.

In a March 2013 research report, Server and Data Center Predictions for 2013, Forrester Research, Inc. Vice President and Principal Analyst Richard Fichera writes, “Newer workloads like analytics, big data, and online web services such as search, social/digital media, and gaming are driving requirements for computing, storage, and networking at an accelerating pace.”

“Data center demand is driven by the combination of a number of trends, including big data, cloud, virtualization, the need for greater energy efficiency, and data center consolidation,” said Michael F. Foust, chief executive officer of Digital Realty. “Data center executives face the need for cost optimization as well as the support of important existing and emerging business initiatives. The strong demand revealed by this survey indicates that senior leaders recognize the importance of data center strategies in meeting these requirements.”

While the survey respondents indicate a preference for U.S. locations for their new data centers, they did not rule out Europe and APAC.

  • Two-thirds of respondents would rather see the data center in the city where they work;
  • U.S. target locations cited were New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Phoenix;
  • London and Hong Kong led in popularity of non-U.S. sites, with some mentions of Tokyo, Singapore, Mumbai, Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid.

 

http://investor.digitalrealty.com/file.aspx?IID=4094311&FID=16650607

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