AFCOM released the results of a membership survey. In all, 436 member sites responded with 83.3 percent of the responses coming from U.S-based facilities. The survey found significant results in eight areas. Respondents expect continued growth in data center space over the next 5 years; most expect to handle the growth and need for additional space by physically adding to and/or upgrading existing facilities (32.6 percent) or actually relocating to a new facility (30.0 percent).

The most significant finding is that private industry data centers are much more likely to have green initiatives than the government facilities (43.1 percent vs. 36.4 percent). Upper management is blamed for the lack of progress in government.

Many respondents considered but rejected cloud computing schemes. This result prompted AFCOM’s Data Center Institute (DCI) to undertake an in-depth research project on the myths and realities surrounding cloud computing. The questions to be addressed in this study are: Why has cloud computing not yet been accepted on a wider scale? Will it ever be? What kind of impact might cloud computing have on the data center industry? Or, will this be something that just goes away?

The report also found that performance monitoring in the data center is finally coming into its own, with many critical systems and components under 24/7 scrutiny.