Half of UK data centres plan new facilities

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Half of the UK's data centre owners and operators plan to build new facilities next year, according to new research.

Of the 128 organisations questioned that own and/or operate data centre facilities, these organisations spent overall an estimated £3 billion in 2006 on improving and increasing their data centre facilities.

Less than one in four organisations built new facilities in 2006; half refitted or extended their capacity within existing facilities and one in three has relocated or consolidated their operations. The research indicates that, among sample organisations, levels of refit and consolidation will remain constant through 2007 but that the proportion intending to build new facilities will double.

The research carried out at the DatacenterDynamics global Conference and Expo found that among the 122 data centre suppliers and vendors also questioned in the survey, their turnover from the data centre sector was estimated at £1.6 billion and this is projected to rise by over 25 per cent year to just over £2.1 billion in 2007.

Among those problems nominated in research as of greatest concern to delegates and vendors at the conference are the implications of increasing power consumption, the cooling requirements of high-density configurations, anxiety about the inherently unpredictable nature of the sector and some concerns as to whether industry knowledge and expertise are sufficient to meet immediate challenges. Only 22.6 per cent of end users agree that they understand and can predict what will happen in their own data centres.

George Rockett, co-founder of the DatacenterDynamics Conference, said that growth and the limits on growth have been "an ongoing theme" in the industry.

"The feedback and data we have received from London indicates a rate of new construction and renovation activity equivalent to those we have found in developing markets we have covered, such as India," he said.

Rockett said the idiosyncrasies of the UK market, such as the availability of space and projected limitations of energy availability, added a further level of risk to that level of projected growth.

"We have faced those issues and, more than in previous years, we have involved experts who can provide new perspectives on the data centre facilities and engineering sector. Our industry increasingly has a public face," said Rockett.

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