Data backup, monitoring and colocation are the services most commonly offered by Irish data centres, a new IDC study has found.
The main challenge identified by data centres has been keeping up with developments in new technology, especially relating to blade servers and their associated cooling and power requirements. Finding and retaining good staff is also an issue.
Some 35pc of installed servers in the data centres surveyed are dual-processor or more, while rack-mounted servers account for 95pc of the installed base. Linux is the operating system used on 31pc of the server installed base, the survey found. Approximately half the organisations interviewed buy 100pc of their equipment direct, while the other half buy 90pc or more direct. No organisation buys more than 10pc through the channel. Over half of all servers are Dell branded.
Another finding of the survey was that 85pc of equipment in data centres is owned by customers. Of the customer-owned equipment, 85pc is owned by private sector organisations and 15pc by the public sector.
Most organisations claim to have influence over the equipment purchases of at least some of their customers. The key criteria for purchase of equipment are preferred brand or vendor, cost and speed of delivery.
Storage was cited by respondents as the area with most growth potential.
Data centres that are owned and/or run by server manufacturers were excluded from the IDC study.
By Niall Byrne
