Data Center Market Trends: 2011 & Beyond

The essence of data centers is management of data. Over the last couple of years, there has been exponential growth in data. In small, business and large companies, volumes of data are churned every day, most of which need to be archived for a long time. To accommodate this growing data, companies need to expand the existing data centers. This they do by either upgrading the existing facilities or leasing larger data center space. 

What Companies Spent on Data Centers in 2010

Out of all IT factions, data center infrastructure eats up the highest chunk of the IT budget. In 2010, large companies spent billions on data centers each. The US government spent $24 billion on data center infrastructure, from the given $80 billion IT budget.

Large players like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and eBay have built their own data centers to cut costs, with Google spending $2.3 on its custom data center. Microsoft is said to spend $500 million on each of its DCs, which adds up to billions a year. 

Facebook is following the trend. Over the years, the company has been leasing data center space, spending $50 million on lease alone in 2010. Add the cost of servers and this amount escalates to close to a billion if not more. It is only now that the company has moved to establish its own custom data centers, with the first such infrastructure set up in Oregon. 

Current Data Center Trends

1. Energy-efficient data centers
The trend now is towards green data centers. Larger companies are embracing efficient data center facilities, a move that will see them cut data center costs by more than half. Facebook was the first of the larger companies to build a fully green data center facility, and more companies are following suit.

2. Consolidation
Data center consolidation is the other trend that is fast picking up. This is happening in companies and organizations that have data center facilities spread across different locations. The idea is to fuse their programs so that all servers are run from a central location, or can be managed by a singular data center operating system.

It is a move that requires a substantial upfront investment, but there are savings to be made overall, since the operating cost comes down. The government is one of the big spenders adopting this trend. It hopes to close down up to 800 data centers, saving 30% off its data center cost. 

3. Private Cloud
There is a shift towards private cloud solutions, which are cheaper and provide easier management of data capacity. Aspects of the data center that are signed up for cloud subscriptions include back up and archiving. 

4. Tiering
Companies are taking advantage of tiering, which enables them to manage more data while minimizing costs. Deeper tiers are used to archive inactive to less-active data, while top tiers are reserved for data that is used constantly. 

Impact of these Trends on Data Center Costs Beyond 2011

It is to be expected that companies will spend more over the coming years, constructing modern, green data centers and consolidating their server programs into larger facilities. Upon completion of the data centers, this cost will come down sharply. Companies that continue leasing data center space will spend less in comparison, since they will not incur any construction costs.

Posted under Business Strategies, Information Technology by Luna  Print This Post