At the Gartner Datacentre and IT Operations Summit in November 2011,
Gartner research vice-president Rakesh Kumar asserted that pressure to cut costs was driving an increase in new datacentre projects. “People are finding the capital to build 30,000 square foot plus datacentres,” stated Kumar. Kumar claimed that it was less expensive to build a new
data centre than it was to rent from a hosted facility where rent doubled every two years.
InTechnology CTO Bryn Sage disagreed with Gartner’s position, accusing Gartner of failing to consider costs beyond initial datacentre acquisition. “[I]f you’re just talking about the costs of bricks and mortar, building your own datacentre can be a cheaper option. However, there are some key criteria that must be qualified before committing to going it alone,” said Sage.
Sage pointed out that upgrades, maintenance, servicing and staffing require time and investment from companies installing datacentres. According to Sage, Moore’s Law dictated that technology would rapidly advance over the 15 to 25 year lifespan of a typical datacentre, and companies had to consider how to manage changes.
Sage’s contentions were supported by Franek Sodzawiczny, CDO of datacentre provider Sentrum, which found data centre planning by businesses was out of date after only three years.