Uptime has just released the results of its second annual Data Center Industry Survey, which focuses on data center infrastructure management (DCIM) adoption, cloud computing, equipment manufacturer market share, energy saving strategies for data center operators, modular data center deployment and more. The complete 32-page report, which includes commentary and analysis from Uptime is available for download with registration at http://uptimeinstitute.com/2012-survey-results.
“Among many interesting upward trends, we continue to see an increase in data center budgets, which is a pleasant surprise as many budgets in the IT sector are on the decline,” said Matt Stansberry, Uptime Institute director of content and publications. “Our survey, which has already piqued industry recognition in its early stages, is a true picture of where the industry is headed as our sample base represents many of the top data center owners and operators across the globe.”
Key findings of the survey include:
• Fifty-five percent of organizations reported a data center budget increase over 2011. Even in the years that followed the 2008 financial industry meltdown, data center construction didn’t dramatically slow. According the survey, 80 percent of respondents have built a new data center or upgraded an existing facility within the past five years.
• Despite an ongoing strong construction period for data centers, 30 percent of respondents will run out of data center capacity at one of their sites in 2012.
• Asia is leading the growth curve in 2012, with 86 percent of companies having built a site recently, and 35 percent running into capacity constraints in existing sites.
• Nearly 50 percent of organizations have deployed private cloud; 25percent have deployed public cloud.
• Asia is most advanced in its public cloud adoption, but has deployed less private cloud than counterparts in Europe or North America.
• Cost reduction is the primary driver for organizations to pursue cloud computing.
• Security, compliance, and reliability concerns are still the leading reasons people aren’t deploying more to the cloud.
• Average PUE of respondents’ largest data center is 1.8-1.89.
• Globally, 82 percent of survey respondents realize that energy efficiency is about saving cash. But it’s also about recovering wasted data center capacity—this year, respondents seemed to really catch on to this concept.
• Modular data center deployment doubled over 2011, but is still in single digits—9 percent.
• Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software is an emerging technology that poses a unique challenge to data center operators. Many organizations already deploy and use features and functions that could be viewed as elements of DCIM, yet very few organizations believe that those features or functions are integrated into any kind of system.
