Survey Forecasts Data-Centers Will Reach Capacity by 2011

Emerson Network Power has released results from a new industry survey highlighting the impact of rising densities on data centers. The survey was conducted by the Data Center Users` Group (DCUG), a group of influential data center and facility managers formed by Emerson Network Power. One of the major findings of the survey is that 96% of current facilities are projected to be at their capacity by 2011.

It posed questions to the DCUG membership on a variety of data center topics, including power management, precision cooling, energy efficiency, technology implementation and consolidation. The survey confirmed that heat and power density are major IT concerns, with 40% of respondents citing either heat density or power density as the biggest issue they are facing. Other issues included space constraints (19%), adequate monitoring capabilities (8%) and availability/uptime (7%). A significant portion of the membership cited either power or cooling as the major constraint on their data center capacity (44%).

According to the survey, consolidation is also gaining momentum in the industry, with 56% percent of respondents having either completed, or being in the process of consolidating data centers. An additional 18% said they were evaluating the option.

The survey also showed that data center energy efficiency is fast becoming a priority in the industry, with 42% of survey respondents saying they have either analyzed efficiency or are currently analyzing it. Respondents perceived the greatest opportunities for energy efficiency to be in the areas of cooling equipment (49%), servers (46%), power equipment (39%) and storage (21%).