Mar, 2009 : US Data Center Spending To Increase in 2009: Study

📅 March 12, 2009 - In a poll of senior decision makers, large North American corporations plan to increase data center spending by an average of 6.6 percent in 2009 according to an annual study of the US data center market commissioned by wholesale data center provider Digital Realty Trust (digitalrealtytrust.com) and conducted by research firm Campos Research & Analysis (cr-a.com).

According to the study released Thursday, 84 percent of surveyed companies are planning data center expansions in the next 12-24 months. Of those, 64 percent plan to expand in two or more locations. On average, data centers account for an average of 35 percent of overall IT budgets. The study polled 300 senior decision makers at North American companies with annual revenues of at least one billion or at least 5,000 employees.

"Based on the results of this study, we expect to see sustained demand for data center facilities in 2009 and 2010 as companies implement these plans to expand their IT infrastructure," Digital Realty Trust senior vice president Chris Crosby said in a statement. "One finding that may surprise people is that companies are increasing their data center budgets in 2009. This is a reflection of how companies view their data centers as critical assets for increasing productivity while reducing costs.

This study follows a similar study of the European data center market last month that found more than 80 percent of European companies surveyed are planning data center expansions within the next two years.

Crosby added, "[I]nteresting are the parallels between this US study and the European study we reported last month, with five out of five companies planning near-term data center projects in both markets." London and Paris took the number one and two places as the best locations for data center projects, according to the report.

In the North American study, space requirements for data centers continued to grow, increasing 16 percent from 2008 to an average of 21,000 square feet in 2009. Indicating that companies are more interested in energy usage, 70 percent of surveyed companies meter power usage in their data centers, however, 80 percent of surveyed companies report a disappointing PUE energy efficiency rating of 2.0 or more and 26 percent 3.0 or higher at their current data center facilities.

"The responses to our questions about PUE ratings are noteworthy because they indicate that PUE has wide acceptance as a methodology for measuring data center efficiency," Crosby said in a statement. "With so many current facilities having PUE metrics above 2 and 3, there is a significant opportunity for companies to reduce their energy costs by implementing energy efficiency initiatives or moving to a data center facility with a lower PUE rating."