Cloud computing: Crisis or opportunity for data center vendors

The third quarter of 2011 was tough for every data center vendor. Several prominent data center companies, such as Digital Realty Trust, Equinix and Rackspace US, have found that their stock-value decline index has reached two digits from July to September, leaving those on the sidelines worried about their stability.

Several data center experts have seen the defeat as a symptom of a big market, not a problem in the data center industry itself. In fact, for the entire difficult third quarter, some data center companies have done better in terms of stock value than the market as a whole. From the beginning of July to September, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1501 points, down 12.1% from the overall value. The S & P index has a broader view of the market and is down 14.3% from its perspective. At the same time, Digital Realty Trust reduced the 10.7%,equinix by 12.1%, and Rackspace down 20.1%!

In addition, the failure of these big companies occurred only after they had a big boost in the first half of 2011. Digital Realty Trust Rose 19.9% in January to June, but not in the third quarter. The same goes for two other companies, with a big boost at the same time, but not in the third quarter.

The end of the third quarter was dismal, but the Dow Jones industrial Average has bounced back, as is the case for data center stocks, most of which have rebounded completely, and are actively drawing a good end to the 2011-year industry.

Data center not out of danger

Some industry experts have seen a cloud on the head of the data center company.

"The industry is now very interesting," said Chris Steffen, chief http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/9942.html of Kroll factual data. If you go to a technical conference in the first 12 months, you will find that the most common topic is cloud computing. You start thinking about why a lot of companies and industries are migrating to the cloud, or believing that the cloud is the trend. You have to know what the results will be, and what this means for these midsize data center companies. ”

Steffen points out that the excessive advertising of cloud computing in the data center and Consumer Markets has led many executives in C-word management to turn to Third-party-hosted choices.

This means more for large management hosting companies, such as Rackspace, as more companies are now ready to outsource their data center management.

"I really believe that the cloud hosting company's business will grow over the long term. But if you are a data center construction company, this analysis may work in other ways. If I had a new technology company that was going to build a data center before, but now it's unlikely, if I can get a small, big payoff from the cloud computing opportunity, I'm going to invest in the new data center. "Steffen said.

The industry's cloud migration also means a disadvantage for some suppliers, according to Kelly Morgan, a senior analyst at Tier 1.

"The simple function of configuring suppliers (building space and renting it out but not providing management equipment) faces tougher times," Morgan said. They rely on start-up business or small business, start to have a separate cabinet, and then grow. But now, people go straight to the clouds. ”

Outsourcing to the cloud is at an early stage, with 2011 Data Center observations from the TechTarget data center, and 64% of data center experts think they are not thinking about cloud computing.

That means 36% of respondents considered cloud computing in some ways. This explains why data center companies are flocking to clouds to guide their own cloud services or acquire a cloud provider.

"Companies that insist on physical data centers still don't see a clear path to cloud computing, so they are stagnating, going downhill or waiting for acquisitions," says one virtualization architect. Other cloud-centric companies will improve and improve. "This dynamic is leaving a mark on the data center industry. "I predict that after 5-6 years, a lot of the companies we know will become very different, maybe close, maybe change." ”

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)