NEW research by The 451 Group Llc. revealed that 42 percent of businesses it polled are expected to spend 15 percent more on average with their colocation providers next year compared with 2015.
Colocation is a hosting option for small businesses who want the features of a large information-technology (IT) department without the costs, according to Webdesign. In its vendor window surveys covering power, cooling and colocation, 451 Research said 14 percent of organizations are very likely to switch from, or use a different colocation provider for new capacity.
“Enterprises are closing more data centers than they are opening, pointing to a continued trend toward consolidation to more centralized premium data centers,” 451 Research, a division of The 451 Group, said in its report.
“However, 24 percent of enterprises expect to increase facility spending over the next 90 days as they upgrade their data centers to handle increasingly dense IT equipment.”
According to 451 Research’s latest data-center market sizing forecast model, the colocation market grew 11 percent year-over-year on a square footage basis in the first quarter of the year and is forecast to maintain that rate through 2018.
The survey of 1,000 IT professionals globally also revealed that “interest in additional services from colocation vendors is primarily related to enhancing table-stakes services, such as 24/7 on-site staff and a broad choice of bandwidth providers.”
“Emerging capabilities, such as a cloud services and direct connection to large cloud providers [like Amazon Web Services Inc.], ranked lower in interest among enterprise IT organizations, with a six out of 10.” But 451 Research said the colocation market is still very fragmented, with more than 1,000 providers identified on a global basis. Only three vendors are used by more than 10 percent of survey respondents. Dan Harrington, research director at 451 Research, was quoted in the report as saying “providers that were ranked lower received poor marks due to aging facilities and poor value for the money.”
“Colocation providers will need to keep their eye on the ball when it comes to modernizing their facilities and delivering core competencies to remain competitive.”