83 per cent of respondents regard data centre expansion business critical or important to businesses development

London, UK, 10th March, 2010 – A national survey of over 100 senior IT professionals found that there are three factors driving demand in the UK data centre market sector - security, power and price. The survey, conducted by Telehouse, also showed that most organisations questioned were looking to expand their data centre requirements adding to the current capacity crunch and putting more pressure on UK data centre providers.

Security (28%) and price (26%) were the two factors most organisations most look for when choosing a data centre, followed by power (16%). Although the demand for data centre space is at a premium the survey showed that if a data centre provider can not offer a service with a suitable level of security and power, and at a competitive price point, organisations will look elsewhere. 

83 per cent of respondents stated that access to additional data centre capacity before 2012 is either critical or important to their business. For years sectors like finance have required huge amounts of data centre space to meet legislative guidelines but, according to the BroadGroup this demand is increasing as new sectors introduce new services.

62 per cent of media companies surveyed by the analyst agency stated that new online media services such as on-demand TV meant that their data centre is ‘a lot more’ important to their business than it had been two years previously. This new demand is also driving power requirements in the sector as these new services require significantly more power – up to 20kW per rack than traditional services.

“The findings mirror the feedback we have received from our customers. London has for a long time come under scrutiny regarding power and data centre space. Many rival European cities cite more flexible government legislation over power consumption to be a key reason for attracting data centre vendors and organisations alike. With the average UK power prices increasing and data centre space at a premium, it is critical that organisations chose to partner with a vendor that can meet their needs now and into the future,” said By Bob Harris, Technical Director, Telehouse.

“Although power was regarded as critical, surprisingly only a small per cent of respondents stated that green credentials were a defining factor when choosing a data centre. We expect this to dramatically increase in importance as the UK Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme comes to fruition next year and organisations have to balance their carbon footprint,” concluded Harris.

Data resilience (16%) and accessibility (11%) were also regarded as important to the respondents.

Telehouse recently announced its Telehouse West facility, an £80 million state-of-the-art datacentre in London’s Docklands that will provide 19,000 square metres of secure data centre space for UK businesses. The facility will meet the power, security and price demands of the market. Telehouse West is the first major data centre to gain planning permission in London since stringent sustainability requirements were written into the city’s legislation. One of the reasons for the project’s approval was the range of innovative green power schemes.