More than 80% of European companies plan to expand their data center infrastructure during the coming year, according to the latest results of an annual survey by the wholesale colocation company Digital Realty Trust.

The report draws on a survey of IT decision-makers from 205 major European organizations conducted by Campos Research in January 2011. Only companies with annual revenues of at least £600m and with more than 2,000 employees were surveyed.

Commenting on the report, Adam Levine, VP Europe at Digital Realty, said the results confirmed that the company's product strategy and geographical areas of focus it chose aligned with priorities of its customers.

"Overall, the survey indicates that the European data centre market is about to enter a cycle of robust growth. Solutions providers such as Digital Realty Trust will continue to play an integral role in supporting this growth," he added.

Main drivers behind companies' expansion plans turned out to be improving security, disaster-recovery and infrastructure consolidation.

Most of the respondents that said they would expand data center capacity said they would expand within Europe. Of the companies planning to expand before the end of 2011, 73% said they would expand within their own countries.

The most popular choice for location was UK, with 37% of respondents planning to expand there. France followed with 30%, and Germany, Spain and Netherlands were the most popular locations after France.

City-wise, nation capitals remained favorite locations among companies planning to expand. London, Paris, Dublin, Amsterdam and Frankfurt proved to be the most popular locations.