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Key trends affecting the IT sector: report
02/05/08
The Data
Centre Price Tracker quarterly published by Tariff Consultancy Ltd
has tracked the changes in Data Centre per rack pricing for over
more than 60 separate facilities in 13 European countries. The
survey also tracked changes in industrial electricity prices in
eight of the main EU countries over the same period.
Industrial electricity prices have proved to be volatile but have
increased over time. France, Sweden and Switzerland have
consistently been at the lower range of electricity rates in Europe
over the last 12 months. Meanwhile Germany, Italy and the UK’
electricity rates feature among the highest in Europe.
“Industrial electricity prices are the clear and present danger to
the Data Centre user and the IT community. It is now being presented
as a separate cost item to the purchase of Data Centre space,”
commented Margrit Sessions, Managing Director of Tariff Consultancy
Ltd.
“But we are seeing price inflation for the Pan European Carrier
Neutral Data Centre provider in particular,” she added. “Suppliers
are taking advantage of rising space utilisation to raise their
prices for new space, and boost their rate of return. Tariff
structures are being modified in all markets. We predict that all of
the major providers will seek to raise their revenue per square
metre in the months ahead.”
Per Rack Data Centre pricing has also changed over time, with
average European pricing as of April 2008 reaching almost 800 Euro
per rack per month. Rates in individual countries can vary by up to
200 per cent (in Germany for example). Ireland, the UK and
Switzerland have average per rack pricing that is close to 1,000
Euro per month, whilst Italy appears to have the lowest average per
rack pricing in Europe.
Tariff Consultancy Ltd research over the last 12 months observes the
following trends:
1. A continued investment boom in new Data Centre space - led by the
Carrier Neutral Data Centre. Investment appears to be running at
record levels with 50,000 metres of new space announced in the last
quarter alone
2. Existing Data Centre “Hot Spots” continue to be important -
Cities such as Paris, Amsterdam and London continue to attract new
investment as a network effect continues to take hold. Users are
attracted to cities which already possess a variety of networks and
content providers, and which are physically close to their existing
production sites.
3. Ecologically friendly IT is increasingly critical – Data Centre
customers are attracted to those sites which can demonstrate their
“green” credentials and which are carbon neutral, which is a key new
factor determining vendor selection.
4. A multi-tiered Data Centre market has developed – Competition for
Data Centre space is increasing, with sites with high power and
network diversity able to charge a premium. New Pan-European Data
Centre facilities in general command premium pricing. Older
facilities and local Carrier Neutral Data Centre providers charge at
or below the market rate. Finally, the Carrier Based Data Centre
provider has the lowest pricing. Telecoms providers do not charge
the full economic rate, and are at least 7 per cent cheaper than
their Carrier Neutral Data Centre counterpart.
The Data Centre Price Tracker is published every 3 months by Tariff
Consultancy Ltd and is available on an annual subscription basis for
4 issues. Each issue provides a survey of Data Centre Per Rack
pricing in 13 European Countries (including Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK) for both the Carrier Based
and Carrier Neutral provider – based on average pricing. It
highlights new developments and space expansion in each country.
Each quarterly survey also contains a separate survey of industrial
electricity pricing for eight countries which are also tracked over
time using official sources. More countries will be added to the
Data Centre Price Tracker in 2008 including the Czech Republic,
Hungary & Poland. More information can be found at
www.telecomspricing.com
Nick Gibson, editor
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