More demand than supply seen in data centers

Social networking, video requires more resources

MANILA, Philippines – Data centers are in a renaissance in recent years with increased Internet usage, spurred by the growth of online services.

In 2007, industry research firm International Data Corporation already predicted that data center boom in Europe alone will continue to rise 22 percent until 2011.

IDC cited lower power requirements, need for more physical space, and co-location as factors for the buildup of more data centers.

Also, in late 2008, IDC and HP forecast several new trends to happen in data centers as demand increases. These are energy-saving “green” technologies, cloud computing, virtualization, among others.

Like in all parts of the world, Asia’s demand for data centers, particularly for managed services and outsourced computing, is also on the rise.

Much of the demand is consumer-driven but business firms are also concerned with more strategic approaches to improving their operations.

Samuel Lee, president of data center company Equinix Asia Pacific said the sheer size of Asia — with its tech-savvy population and the number of industries, from small, medium, and large corporations — is creating new demand for data centers.

“Outsourcing growth, Internet data traffic, and electronic trading in Asia can be attributed to the rise in data center growth. With this, many Asian companies are looking at new business models to keep up with operational capacity while maintaining customer satisfaction,” Lee said.

Even online information portals such as Google and the new Microsoft Bing would still be looking to outsource some of their data center requirements to third party data centers even as they build their own.

Lee cited that digital media companies and telecommunications carriers are among their biggest customers adding that companies in these areas demand higher bandwidth as well as co-location services to maintain high customer service levels where they are present.

But even with data centers popping up in different regions, Lee said the introduction of Internet-ready devices, as well as the use of social networking services are pushing demand farther away from the supply side.

The use of video is also one of the reasons for increased bandwidth usage and storage space among telecommunications providers and digital media portals, who would constantly look at data centers for more space and connection speed.

Still, Lee said data centers are becoming more operationally efficient with the availability of energy-saving servers, power supplies, and even cooling systems.

“Even equipment providers are building machines that help in ensuring data centers run smoothly,” Lee said.

Equinix built its second data center in Singapore. It is a 8,784 square meter space in one of Singapore’s industrial space. Lee said the second site will provide co-location services to Asian customers. –Alexander Villafania, INQUIRER.net