Cloud computing dominates data center agenda, says survey

Cloud computing adoption among data center managers has snowballed in the last year with more than 70 percent of respondents who have implemented the technology or seriously considering it, according to a survey by AFCOM, a data center association.

AFCOM surveyed 358 data center managers and found a cloud computing sea change. In 2010, 14.9 percent of data center managers implemented cloud computing in their facilities. For AFCOM's 2011 survey, 36.6 percent of respondents implemented cloud computing and another 35.1 percent were seriously considering it.

The takeaway: 80 percent to 90 percent of data centers will have some form of cloud computing in the next five years, said AFCOM.

Meanwhile, 86.8 percent of respondents said there was an increase in Web applications compared to 3 years ago.

Among the key findings:

More than 15 percent of data center managers said there was no plan for data backup and recovery and 50 percent have no plan to replace damaged equipment in a disaster.

Data centers are expanding in size with 44.2 percent of respondents saying their facilities have more floor space than three years ago. Another 49.4 percent are expanding or plan to.

59.7 percent of respondents have security policies written for online and mobile apps and 43.1 percent have social networking policies.

3.9 percent of respondents have implemented solar power at their data centers.