The Australian data centre services market reached revenues of $698 million in 2013, a 17.2 per cent increase on 2012, according to a new Frost & Sullivan report.
The increase was partly due to a 17 per cent increase in co-location services. This segment now accounts for 69 per cent of the total data centre services market revenue. In addition, managed hosting services revenue grew by 18 per cent.
The Australian Data Centre Services Market 2014 report also found that there was 230,000 square metres of co-location space in Australia as of December 2013, an increase of 16 per cent from the same period in 2012.
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According to Frost & Sullivan Australia and New Zealand's ICT practice senior research manager, Phil Harpur, this increase was partly due to more Australian companies outsourcing their data centre requirements.
For example, the analyst firm’s survey of 153 IT executives found that 51 per cent were using an outsourced data centre provider, 24 per cent operated their own facility and the remaining 25 per cent used a combination of outsourced and company-owned data centre services.
Thirty nine per cent of those surveyed were CEOs or managing directors while 47 per cent were IT managers, COOs or business unit managers.
“Organisations outsource data centre hosting for a number of reasons, mainly because they believe that an outsourced facility has better security and lower operating costs,” Harpur said in a statement.
“The most significant challenges faced by Australian companies running their own data centres are the lack of IT staff or resources.”
According to Harpur, the total amount of outsourced data centre space may reach 500,000 square metres by 2020.
The data centre services market is also forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13.9 per cent from now until 2020, reaching $1,737 million.
Computerworld Australia has contacted Frost & Sullivan for more information.
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