Secure I.T. Environments Ltd has released the results of its most recent data centre survey. The survey found that 46% of respondents did not know whether their data centre had improved in energy efficiency over the last two years.
47% were however clear that their data centres had improved in efficiency over the last two years. Only 7% admitted that the efficiency of their data centre has declined.
Chris Wellfair, Projects Director at Secure I.T. Environments added, “It is surprising that so many organisations do not understand the energy usage and efficiency of their data centres, because it can tell them a lot about their infrastructure. Regular monitoring of key performance indicators across the data centre can not only improve efficiency, but lower costs, identify failing equipment, and improve maintenance regime.”
The big worries
The survey asked about the biggest ICT worries respondents have over the coming three years, with the top concern (47%) stated as the “lack of budget available for data centre management and/or infrastructure upgrades”. Energy efficiency was next with 33% stating they were concerned about their “ability to demonstrate improved ICT energy efficiency”. Joint third place (30%) was budget allocation for software and systems developments, and finding/recruiting qualified ICT staff.
Data breach woes
40% of respondents said they were more concerned than ever about the threat of a data breach, when asked about how security concerns had changed over last year. 24% felt that the security threats they faced had not increased, this despite increasing reports of DDoS and other attacks that have been much larger than anything seen before – some over 500 Gbps in recent months.
Priorities with limited budgets
Security (38%) was given as the greatest priority for organisations when facing limited budgets, followed by the upgrade or ICT systems and infrastructure (29%) and maintenance of ICT systems and infrastructure (26%).
Chris Wellfair added, “Security remains important to the data centre community, with data breaches the biggest concern. It is important that those with responsibility for personally identifiable information in data centres protect against internal and external risks of data breaches and remember that the physical protection of the data centre is as important as the online threat.”
