Over half of respondents surveyed are expecting to expand the size of their ‘in house’ technical floorspace portfolio in the coming year, a marginal increase on our previous survey in autumn 2011. In addition, there has also been an increase in participants who expect to expand their ‘third party’ managed space.
David Willcocks, Lead Director for Data Centre Solutions at Jones Lang LaSalle said: “Overall the survey suggests that over half of respondents intend to expand their technical floorspace over the next 12 months and the number of those intending to reduce their portfolio has simultaneously fallen. The most optimistic group of professionals is the developers and investors, closely followed by the colocation and IT managed service providers. Their views reflect our experiences in the market which show increased activity from these sectors.”
David Willcocks goes on to comment: “Whilst it is difficult to make sweeping conclusions with regard to geographical focus, some potential interesting trends in development across Europe should be highlighted. For instance, 75% either agreed or strongly agreed that demand would consider a move from traditional Tier 1 cities to other established EMEA cities.
The wider European Data Centre market has matured over the last few years and the largest group to highlight this was the corporate sector - over 80% said that secondary locations where likely to benefit. This could be due to the expansion of data infrastructure and access to greener power. Our own experience is that over the last twelve months we have been increasingly asked to source product and information from these locations, in addition to the more traditional Tier 1 sites. We expect this trend to accelerate.”