Research conducted by DatacenterDynamics at their first Paris conference and exhibition, which welcomed more than 380 French data center professionals, indicates a vibrant and fast-growing sector, which displays a strong sense of environmental and social responsibility, yet which holds significant concerns about the speed of change and development in the sector.
The Paris market appears smaller and younger in terms of facilities than the equivalent sectors across the Channel or the Atlantic. Their concerns, particularly in regard to energy costs, may appear less urgent than those of their British or American counterparts and they hold a greater faith in IT as a provider of solutions, yet adoption and interest in a variety of technology and solutions is at a level equivalent to the larger markets.
Research at the Paris event included the opinions of half those attending and continued the DatacenterDynamics 2007 research programme across major American and European business centres. With five events researched, significant and consistent differences between the American and the European data center cultures are beginning to be indicated both in terms of the adoption and consideration of emerging technologies and in terms of the attitudes that drive change. The European market is more amenable to external regulation, although one-third of respondents are uncertain as to the degree to which this should be taken. The American market is far more confident that an energy-efficient (green') data center can be achieved and that demands of resilience can be balanced against the need for energy efficiency. This may be linked to a far greater degree of confidence in measuring and predicting what will happen in American data centers.
The Paris sample includes representatives of the city's leading IT and telecommunications organisations, finance, managed services and construction organisations. Collectively, the sample operates around 25,000 racks and 300,000 square metres in France, spending around Ôé¼300 million in the past 12 months on building, refitting, extending, consolidating and outsourcing their facilities. Total spend over the next 12 months is projected to reach over Ôé¼400 million. What distinguishes the Paris market from other markets researched is a strong and unprompted concern about the speed of technological change and about the principles of data center management.
The opportunities presented by DatacenterDynamics Paris 2007 to share experience and learnings were welcomed strongly by the research respondents. By facilitating the engagement of Government, vendors, business associations and data center owners/operators, DatacenterDynamics is able to facilitate also the development of ideas and solutions based on a full, practical and multi-faceted understanding of the issues.
In 2007, the DatacenterDynamics Global Series will include twenty-two events in the world's leading business centers and research conducted in parallel will develop local and regional perspectives on the challenges facing owners and operators of data centers.

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For further details of the research conducted in Paris please contact:
George Rockett, show producer, DatacenterDynamics +44 (0) 20 7814 7989 or e-mail [email protected]. For press and research enquiries please contact Nick Parfitt, Spa Communications (www.spacomms.co.uk) +44 (0) 7900 601305 or e-mail [email protected].