Midwest Business has published a summary of a white paper from IDC Global summarizing the impact of rising energy costs on enterprise data center and hosting operations. Many of the paper's observations and conclusions will be old news to data center professionals, but here's an excerpt that puts a fine point on the opportunities for facility operators:
Power costs are increasing the importance of good counsel from colocation and data center service providers. No longer viewing colocation or other services as commodities, companies seek out providers that can help them choose efficient equipment and adopt an architecture that protects data while managing costs. They make the decision in order to obtain economies of scale and to gain a provider's expertise with decisions that affect the quality as well as the price of operations. With the provider's insights, they expect to keep their systems scalable, their costs predictable and their operations safe.
The paper concludes with a warning to those inclined to view the power/cooling crisis as a temporary challenge: "Those who think today's energy crunch is simply going to disappear or correct itself are misinformed. One needs only to look at the global energy markets for a glimpse of the growing need and the exceeding cost. Energy rates increase every year not just in the U.S. but throughout the world."
