Data Center Institute Issues Five Predictions

ORANGE, CA-—AFCOM’s Data Center Institute issued five bold predictions for the future of the data center industry. The predictions were presented by Data Center Institute Board Members in the keynote address to data center professionals attending Data Center World, in Atlanta, GA, on March 22nd.

1. Within the next five years, one out of every four data centers will experience a business disruption serious enough to affect the entire company’s ability to continue business-as-usual.
2. By 2015, the talent pool of qualified senior level technical and management data center professionals will shrink by 45%.
3. By 2010, nearly 70% of all data centers will utilize some form of grid computing or other virtual processing.
4. By 2010, more than half of all data centers will have to relocate to new facilities or outsource some applications.
5. Over the next five years, power failures and limits on power availability will halt data center operations at more than 90% of all companies.

“All of the issues addressed in our predictions are looming ominously on the horizon and need to be taken seriously,” said Jill Eckhaus, AFCOM president and board chair for the Data Center Institute. “If data center managers don’t prepare now, the potential for catastrophe is huge.”

New Survey Findings

Findings from a survey of AFCOM’s membership undertaken in January 2006 were assessed as the primary source for the Data Center Institute’s predictions. Key findings include:

• 83% of respondents say they have a risk management plan in place, however, only 1.3% of the plans address security breaches, and 2.7% address viruses.
• 40% confirmed that a business disruption would cost their company from $250,000 to upwards of $5 million per hour of downtime.
• 47% of respondents believe finding qualified senior-level employees will become more difficult over the next five years. 38% currently have unfilled positions in their data centers, and 15% say it usually takes six months or longer to fill open senior-level technical or management positions.
• 20% say their data center is currently exceeding 80% of power capacity in their data center, 49% say it’s exceeding 50%, and 21% says the demands are between 25% and 50% of capacity.

More than half of respondents anticipate needing to physically expand their data center in the next 10 years, with 5% planning to outsource and 13% planning a combination of expansion and outsourcing. Nearly a third expect to have to relocate their data centers, while 45% believe they will need to make major improvements to existing data centers.

In the past five years, 14% of respondents have had to build new centers with additional capacity to meet IT requirements, and 8% had to ask landlords for more electrical capacity. 16% say they haven’t made changes in the past five years, but anticipate they will in the next five years.