The U.S. data center market will expand in 2009 with 84 percent of companies planning data center expansions in the next 12-24 months, 64 percent of those with plans to expand in 2009 are planning to expand in two or more locations and data center spending set to increase by an average of 6.6 percent in 2009.
Data centers account for an average of 35 percent of overall IT budgets for surveyed companies.
The study is based on a detailed survey of senior decision makers at large corporation in North America who are responsible for shaping their companies' datacenter strategies.
The research was conducted for Digital Realty Trust by research firm Campos Research & Analysis.
"Based on the results of this study, we expect to see sustained demand for datacenter facilities in 2009 and 2010 as companies implement these plans to expand their IT infrastructure," said Chris Crosby, Senior Vice President of Digital Realty Trust. "One finding that may surprise people is that companies are increasing their datacenter budgets in 2009. This is a reflection of how companies view their datacenters as critical assets for increasing productivity while reducing costs. Also interesting are the parallels between this U.S. study and the European study we reported last month, with 4 out of 5 companies planning near-term datacenter projects in both markets."
A study of the European data center market published last month showed similar demand.