Digital Realty Trust releases results of new data center study

Major data center real estate company Digital Realty Trust has released the results of a new data center study that shows most large companies ready to expand their data center footprints.

The research was done for Digital by Campos Research and Analysis. Some findings:

• 83 percent of respondents are planning data center expansions in the next 12 to 24 months
• 36 percent of respondents have definite plans to make those expansions during 2010
• The need for additional power is the top reason for data center expansions, rising from fifth place on last year’s survey to first place this year
• Data center and IT budgets are both projected to increase by 8 percent in 2010, up from 7 percent and 6 percent, respectively, last year
• Of those planning to expand, 70 percent are planning large projects of at least 15,000 square feet in size or 2 mW or greater of power
• 83 percent of respondents with definite plans to expand in 2010 plan to do so with a partner that specializes in data center design and construction or data center leasing.
• Of those expanding, 53 percent plan to do so by leasing from a wholesale data center provider

There were also some data center energy efficiency results from the survey:

• 76 percent of respondents now meter their power use
• The number of companies that meter power down to the PDU level increased by 29 percent over last year
• The average reported PUE energy efficiency rating for respondents’ data centers is 2.9
• One in six respondents report PUE ratings of less than 2.0 for their facilities

The Web-based survey was taken in January of 300 “IT decision makers” at large companies in North America with annual revenues of at least $1 billion and/or at least 5,000 employees.