Gartner Says Worldwide Data Center Hardware Spending on Pace to Reach $99 Billion in 2011 Analysts to Reveal Latest Global Enterprise IT Spending Forecast on Octo

Gartner Says Worldwide Data Center Hardware Spending on Pace to Reach $99 Billion in 2011

Analysts to Reveal Latest Global Enterprise IT Spending Forecast on October 17 at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2011 in Orlando

STAMFORD, Conn., October 13, 2011—  

             Worldwide data center hardware spending is projected to reach $98.9 billion in 2011, up 12.7 percent from 2010 spending of $87.8 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. Data center hardware spending is forecast to total $106.4 billion in 2012, and surpass $126.2 billion in 2015.

Data center hardware spending includes servers, storage and enterprise data center networking equipment.

"Worldwide data center hardware spending will finally reach and surpass 2008 levels," said Jon Hardcastle, research director at Gartner. "Growth in emerging regions — particularly Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRIC countries) — is balanced by continued weakness relative to pre-downturn levels in Japan and Western Europe. Storage is the main driver for growth. Although only a quarter of data center hardware spending is on storage, almost half of the growth in spending will be from the storage market."

The very largest size category of data centers (which is data centers with more than 500 racks of equipment) will increase its share of spending from 20 percent in 2010 to 26 percent in 2015, driven by the cloud and the shift from internal data center provision to external.

In 2010, 2 percent of data centers contained 52 percent of total data center floorspace and accounted for 63 percent of data center hardware spending. In 2015, 2 percent of data centers will contain 60 percent of data center floorspace and account for 71 percent of data center hardware spending.

"Traditional in-house enterprise data centers are under attack from three sides. Firstly, virtualization technologies are helping companies to utilize their infrastructure more effectively, inhibiting overall system growth. Secondly, data centers are getting more efficient, leading to higher system deployment densities and inhibiting demand for floor space. Thirdly, the move to consolidated third-party data centers is reducing the overall number of midsize data centers. Meanwhile, the largest data center class is, of course, benefitting from the rise of cloud computing," Mr. Hardcastle said.

Additional information is available in the Gartner report "Forecast: Data Centers, Worldwide, 2010-2015" at http://www.gartner.com/resId=1818517.

Peter Sondergaard, senior vice president and global head of research at Gartner, will provide the latest outlook for the IT industry during the opening keynote at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2011 in Orlando, on Monday, October 17. Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the world's most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives. This event delivers independent and objective content with the authority and weight of the world's leading IT research and advisory organization, and provides access to the latest solutions from key technology providers. Additional information for Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2011 in Orlando, October 16-20, is available at www.gartner.com/symposium/us.

Gartner analysts will provide more detailed analysis regarding the overall IT spending outlook during the Gartner webinar "IT Spending Forecast (3Q11 Update)" on October 18 at 11 a.m. EDT. To register for this complimentary webinar, please visit http://my.gartner.com/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=202&mode=2&PageID=5553&resId=1785914&ref=Webinar-Calendar.

 

Contacts:

Christy Pettey
Gartner
+1 408 468 8312
christy.pettey@gartner.com

Laurence Goasduff
Gartner
+ 44 1784 267 195
laurence.goasduff@gartner.com


About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is a valuable partner to 60,000 clients in 11,500 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,500 associates, including 1,250 research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.