Outsourcing of data centers to third parties will see double-digit growth in Europe this year, according to Gartner VP of Research Scott Morrison.
Europe’s drive to outsource is being driven by the age of many company data centers, as well as corporate desire to restructure IT infrastructures and eliminate “data-center sprawl,” he explains in a recent interview with Accela Communications’ IT Briefing Center. Focus of many companies’ outsourcing includes their mission-critical IT services and business-critical applications.
“Many IT leaders make the decision that it’s beyond the scope of the internal IT organization to provide the required level of guarantee back to the business,” he said. “They’re thus drawn to the service-provider model on the basis of the better overall service levels being offered.”
Companies looking to outsource their data centers remain focused on two key metrics: cost reduction and performance improvement, he says.
“While we’ve seen many parts of the network and IT services market start to contract during this economic downturn, demand for third-party data centers is actually growing faster as a result,” Morrison adds. “And Gartner expects to see double-digit rises in demand in Europe this year, continuing the trend we’ve seen in the past three to four years.”