A mini deluge of surveys today provide a positive picture for the data centre industry though a healthy degree of scepticism is worth bearing in mind as the survey sponsors, US real estate player Digital Realty and Telehouse Europe will of course see themselves as prime beneficiaries!
However, some interesting points worthy of note:
Digital Realty – focus on selling large scale spaces on a leasehold basis to large corporate clients. Their survey of large European companies (turnover of >€650m) showed 80% were planning to expand their data centre capacity in the next year, with London, Paris and Frankfurt seen as the most popular locations. The average capacity expansion sought by these large buyers is some 15,000 sq ft.
Meanwhile Telehouse’s survey of 100UK IT professionals found that security and pricing were the key factors buyers looked for when making a buying decision followed by power. If you read our own “Buyers Guide” you will find we list several more factors that we look at when assessing a buyers requirement, for example location, network choice, qualifications or standards and so forth. Perhaps of greater interest is the low priority attached to Green issues, certainly a finding we would confirm from our own activities, for example not many of our clients are asking us for the “greenest data centre provider”. Telehouse believe this may see the greatest change over the next year, especially as the UK’s CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) begins to take effect.