(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Data center operator Digital Realty Trust (www.digitalrealtytrust.com) announced on Tuesday it has released the results of its annual study of green data center trends in the United States, which shows significant shifts have occurred over the past 12 months in corporate green data center strategies.
The announcement follows DRT’s recent adoption of the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method Bespoke data center standards for all future construction of its data centers.
Conducted for DRT by research firm Campos Research & Analysis, the study is based on a detailed survey of senior decision makers at large US corporations who are responsible for their companies’ data center and green IT strategies.
“What dominated last year’s study was the need for clearer standards and best practices for green data centers,” says Jim Smith, CTO of Digital Realty Trust. “There has been significant progress in that area over the past year, including the publication of green data center case studies by industry leaders, the development of green building standards specifically for data centers, and widespread efforts to educate data center professionals on the practical application of that information. We’re not there yet, but progress has been made, which is reflected in this survey. By contrast, what dominates this year’s study is companies’ concerns about potential government regulation and how that would impact data center operations.”
Leading the study’s key results is 69 percent of survey respondents saying that they were extremely or very concerned about government regulation.
Additionally, 81 percent of respondents said that carbon credits are now part of their green IT strategy, compared to only 18 percent in 2008.
Meanwhile, the definition of a green data center seems to be, as 53 percent said that the industry now has a clear definition of what makes a data center green, compared to 82 percent in the 2008 survey who said that there was no clear definition.
Finally, 73 percent of survey participants identified “energy efficiency” as the key aspect of a green data center.
The study is based on web-based surveys in March of 100 IT decision makers at large corporations in North America with annual revenues of at least $1.0 billion and/or at least 5000-plus employees.
All survey participants are senior level executives who are directly involved in the process of managing corporate data centers, executing contracts for new data centers, implementing new data centers or expanding existing data centers.
Digital Realty Trust is also issuing the results of a simultaneous study of green trends in the European data center market which it announced last month.
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