Aussies, NZ Need Space

LONDON -- A new report from the Data Centre Practice at BroadGroup reveals that the Data Centre market in Australia and New Zealand is expanding significantly, but suggests that growing demand is confronting a severe shortage of quality Data Centre space, as well as limitations of the physical infrastructure in most of the existing sites.

The findings of the report, Data Centres: Australia and New Zealand, published today, suggest a major requirement for investment to upgrade in the sector, but also could point to growing business consolidation. The first to address the sector in these markets, the report also suggests that current conditions are likely to drive a renewed emphasis on server and storage consolidation and virtualisation, as well as further proliferation of high density blade technologies.

In common with the findings of the Data Centres Asia report conducted by BroadGroup at the end of last year, older facilities with legacy design issues mainly related to electrical mechanical infrastructure and security, will face critical challenges including possible exclusion from RFPs as demand for power and cooling increases.

Market trends towards change, consolidation and M&A inform the outlook for the data centre sector in both countries. The report also suggests telecommunication carriers are entering the IT services market which includes the provisioning of data centres. However, Australia and New Zealand markets are both characterised by the significant presence of IT outsourcers who dominate the top 10 data centre players by size.

Brisbane (Australia) and Auckland (New Zealand) are set to increase space with several new Data Centres over the next 12-18 months. Sydney and Melbourne (Australia) and possibly Wellington (New Zealand) are likely to see new facilities built within 2-4 years on the basis of current plans identified. The forward view provided in detail in the report, suggests a reduced availability of quality space, increased prices for racks and hosting, and increased power costs.The report provides a wealth of detail on services, provider profiles and their strengths and weaknesses, technologies currently deployed as well as an analysis of the commercial and technical issues confronting data centre services. All major vendors and the majority of smaller service providers are detailed in this report, which also contains city maps with data centre locations identified.

As a resource, the report offers a level of detail which is invaluable for any company engaged in or investing in the data centre sector in these countries,” commented Philip Low, managing director at BroadGroup. “These are important markets on the point of further change, with well defined niche opportunities and reflect the strategic value that data centres can now yield, evidenced in markets globally.”

BroadGroup