New market analysis from business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan has suggested the data center cooling solutions market in the Asia-Pacific will double by 2018, in part due to the increasing emphasis on data center efficiency and the growing demand for cloud-based services.
The report, “Asia-Pacific Data Center Cooling Solutions Market,” estimates the market-generated revenues of more than $1.2 billion in 2011 will reach $2.17 billion by 2018.
According to Frost & Sullivan research analysts, the increase in global networking and social media, as well as the popularity of digital transactions and online hosting services, has accelerated the construction of data centers in the Asia-Pacific, forcing cooling system suppliers to consider the development of new products and technologies to keep up with the demand. Data center operators from other countries, including Apple and Google, are also relocating their data centers to the Asia-Pacific, further contributing to market growth in the area.
Changing regulations on global warming and carbon emissions are also likely to force data center providers to replace existing cooling systems with more efficient solutions.
“Data centers are likely to face an energy deficit owning to escalating digitization and cloud computing, and green data center cooling solutions that reduce carbon emissions are becoming popular,” Frost & Sullivan energy and environment senior research analyst Amit Kumar Singh said. “Customer evaluation of cooling solutions based on total cost of ownership, rather than purely on initial capital costs, further highlights the importance of efficiency.”
The report notes “long, drawn-out bureaucratic processes” and the slow construction market in the Asia-Pacific may affect data center construction and, consequentially, the cooling systems market. Potential industry preference for traditional data center cooling methods, as well as the high cost of upgrading current systems with more efficient cooling systems, may also affect market growth.
“Cooling solution providers must partner with IT vendors to broaden business opportunities, build comprehensive solutions and widen their reach,” Singh said. “Creating a global product design team will enable cooling equipment vendors to consistently develop sought-after products that comply with the industry’s highest efficiency benchmarks.”
