The investment in greener
data centers will experience rapid growth over the next five years,
increasing from $7.5 billion in global revenue to $41.4 billion by 2015,
representing 28% of the total data center market, according to a new report from Pike Research.
The IT industry is responsible for around 2% of the world’s carbon emissions and data centers are the fastest growing part of that footprint. While energy efficiency has not traditionally been a major emphasis for IT organizations, the industry is now highly focused on implementing solutions that will reduce energy expenses and carbon emissions associated with data center operations.
“Cost of energy has seldom been a concern for IT departments in the past,” says industry analyst Eric Woods, “and there was little incentive to invest in energy efficiency improvements. But as data center energy costs become more visible, the financial benefits of moving to a greener mode of operation are being recognized by CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs.”
Woods adds that the green data center has evolved in response to concern over energy use, but it is also connected to the broader transformation that data centers are undergoing. This transformation encompasses technical innovation, operational improvement, new design principles, and changes to the relationship between IT and business.
The data center of the future will be energy efficient; it will also be virtualized, to ensure optimal use of IT resources, space and energy, and it will be more dynamic in its operation, adaptable to new business needs and new technology opportunities.
Pike Research’s analysis indicates that power and cooling infrastructure solutions will be the largest portion of the green data center market opportunity, representing 46% of revenue over the next five years. Energy efficient IT equipment will be the second largest category with 41% of the market, and monitoring and management will follow with 14% of total revenue.
Last week, GE (NYSE: GE) invested in SynapSense, a company specializing in optimized cooling for data centers. The company’s technology will become a part of GE’s so-called Intelligent Platforms for data centers.
IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) cutting-edge data center technology has been on display at Disney’s Epcot Center since the first of the year. Visitors can get a rundown of the company’s Cloudburst environment, which is said to reduce energy costs by up to 25%.
Over the next two years, New York State will provide over $100 million through its Industrial and Process Efficiency program to help data centers control their energy costs and improve their competitiveness.
In June, the EPA launched Energy Star certification for data centers.
The report, “Green Data Centers”, examines green data center trends, and forecasts the size and growth of the market opportunity by region and technology through 2015. The report analyzes new developments in power and cooling infrastructure, server, storage and network technology, and software management systems that are underpinning green data centers.
An Executive Summary of the report is available for free at the link below.
Loading...