By Patrick K. Burke
With the steady growth of big data, CIOs and IT leaders expect a major increase in data center demand.
According to a survey from Mortenson, “Insights into Executive Challenges: Data Center Decisions,” the majority of enterprises have boosted data center capacity over the last five years, and expect to continue doing so for the next five years.
Data center expansion brings about numerous challenges, including decisions over whether to build a new data center, lease from a provider or renovate an existing facility.
With many CIOs dealing with limited budgets and capital, much is at stake when making these choices.
CIOs said they struggle to determine how much capacity is needed when planning a data center expansion, and 20 percent said it’s difficult to decide whether to build, renovate or lease.
“Data center owners and operators face high-stakes challenges, as poor decisions can lead to difficulties that must be dealt with for decades,” the report warns. “In our work with data center owners and operators, we witness the perpetual task of assessing the trade-offs between (capital expenditures) and (operating expenditures). Fundamental considerations … become trickier because decisions must be made without fully knowing future requirements.”
The strong growth of data center demand will last for at least 10 years, according to a majority of survey respondents, and 37 percent believe the demand will last more than 10 years.
