Investment in data centres expected to increase in Australia: survey

Some Australians have indicated they will spend more on their data centres over the next year due to big data, virtualization and business continuity requirements, according to a Forrester Consulting survey.

The study, commissioned by Digital Realty, was conducted during February 2014 in Australia, the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany, France, Canada, the Netherlands and Ireland.

There were 245 CIOs and IT managers surveyed in Asia Pacific, 36 were from Australia.

According to the findings, 76 per cent of Australian respondents said they would increase spending on their data centres during the next year, with 59 per cent of these respondents expected to increase spending by 5 to 10 per cent. The remaining 17 per cent said they would increase spending by more than 10 per cent.

Big data was cited as a driver of data centre growth by 51 per cent of the Australians surveyed. This was followed by virtualization (39 per cent) and business continuity (37 per cent).

According to the findings, CIOs hold the purse strings when it comes to data centre spending in Australia. Fifty-two per cent of respondents said the CIO is responsible for spending, while 46 per cent said the CEO influences data centre spending decisions. The IT manager or director has a say in spending, according to 46 per cent of Australians surveyed.

In addition, 52 per cent of Australian organisations use one to four data centres.

Half of the respondents said the need to expand space and the numbers of cabinets/racks is the main reason their facilities are running out of capacity.

Network connectivity options and carrier availability is considered “very important” to 73 per cent of Australian respondents.

Access to cloud services, managed service providers or other partners is important to 61 per cent of respondents, while the cost of energy at the data centre’s locations is critical for 59 per cent.

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