December was crystal ball gazing time. This year the leading question will be what is going to happen over the coming 12 months?  Where will the money be spent and which ‘new’ technologies will be implemented by the masses. Will cloud make the corporate data center obsolete?  Will modular-designed data center replace old-fashion bricks and mortar and will 2013 finally see mass uptake of data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solutions?

DCD Intelligence may not have a crystal ball but we do have the results of this year’s census which does give us (and therefore you) insight into these pressing questions without a single ‘expert’ in sight.

Earlier in 2012 DCD Intelligence conducted the DatacenterDynamics Global Census for the second year running and as part of the census questionnaire we asked respondents to tell us their plans for 2013.

Here we discuss these predictions and examine forecast uptake of the Cloud, DCIM and modular data centers by region.

Cloud infrastructure architectures

This last year has been unremarkable in terms of cloud implementation amongst data center owners and operators.

Although when surveyed in 2011, most predicted that they would be spending a large proportion of their budgets on cloud in reality many spent more on ‘staple’ technologies such as power, cooling and cabling.

Will 2013 be any different? If the figures given this year prove to be correct then yes, uptake of cloud infrastructure architecture is set to increase over 2012 levels with some countries seeing as much as a 138% increase in uptake. Countries where there is a decrease in uptake next year tend to be those with a higher-than-average uptake over the past 12 months indicating that those operators that are going to implement have already done so.

Modular solutions
This year’s DatacenterDynamics Industry Census results suggest that 2013 will be the year of the modular solution, especially in developing markets. This suggests that those building new facilities in these markets are looking towards modular in preference to traditional bricks and mortar. Lower increases in uptake can be seen in more mature markets.
 

DCIM solutions
Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) has been hailed as the answer to the energy efficiency problem.

Data center infrastructure management implementation means that all aspects of the data center should, in theory, be measurable and managed improving effciency and decreasing operational costs. However, as with the other ‘new’ technologies, DCIM uptake has not reached the levels of uptake predicted at the end of 2011.

Will 2013 be any different? It would appear so. Operators in most countries predict a greater uptake of DCIM next year, most notably in Latin America and Russia. It should be noted, however, that many of the countries predicting the greatest uptake into 2013 were those with the lowest in 2012.

So, in conclusion it would appear the 2013 will see substantial increases in cloud, DCIM and modular solutions which is good news for the vendors.

Speaking of vendors, what have they been doing over the past 12 months? The short answer is relying on the seemingly recession-proof data center industry for more of their revenue. It is expected that the proportion of revenue gained from this sector for many of these vendors will continue to increase as the global economic slowdown continues and data center spend continues to rise.

Will we be proved right? Watch this space in December 2013 . . .