Data centre infrastructure management (DCIM), according to new research from Omdia, is set to play a pivotal role in the coming years – with the sector’s market value expected to reach $6,3-billion by 2030.
From overseeing infrastructure equipment in remote cabinets to sprawling hyperscale data centres, DCIM solutions offer a comprehensive approach to monitoring and measuring.
Managing power and cooling is typically the responsibility of operational teams (OT) rather than IT departments with the key objective of maintaining the resiliency/availability of the infrastructure. However, as this scope gains prominence, a transformative convergence between IT and OT is taking place across organisations – an area tracked in Omdia’s DCIM Market Landscape: The role of DCIM in IT and OT convergence.
Omdia’s IT Enterprise Insights: IT Spending & Sourcing 2024 survey sheds light on how organisations are budgeting for IT needs this year. Highlighting a familiar pattern, the data showed that the majority (65%) of IT budgets will be directed towards maintaining existing systems and services, while 18% will go towards expanding current services and 17% towards transformative initiatives in 2024. This figure mirrors trends from the last few years reflecting the persistent challenges of increasing labour and energy costs.
Omdia expects that organisations will increasingly turn to automation, AI-enabled optimisation, and as-a-service models to manage costs and drive more investment towards transformative projects over the next five years.
The ongoing volatility of energy prices is a critical factor impacting IT budgets globally as energy tariffs vary from country to country and within. Despite expectations for continued fluctuations driven by market dynamics, fuel types, regulations, weather patterns, and geopolitical uncertainty there is little indication that energy prices will stabilise in the near future.
Last year witnessed a dip in server output following two exceptional years in 2021 and 2022. The downturn can be attributed to various factors including the Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, and ongoing global geopolitical uncertainties.
However, Omdia forecasts indicate a positive outlook for 2024 and beyond. IT equipment, particularly servers (partially to meet the demands of GenAI) and network equipment (to meet the needs of faster network connectivity) is expected to see YoY increases. This increased infrastructure necessitates robust monitoring and will drive DCIM revenue.