Over a third of UK chief information officers and IT Directors are facing a 'data centre timebomb', according to research published today.

The survey from IT provider Fujitsu Siemens Computers says without modification data centres will only keep pace with increasing business needs for a year and 10 per cent of them do not even match current business requirements.

Just two per cent of respondents said their data centres will be adequate for the next five years.

Data centres in the retail, distribution and transport industries face the greatest challenge, with 42 per cent of those questioned saying their IT systems could only keep pace for a year or less.

This compares with 31 per cent in the manufacturing sector, 25 per cent in other commercial industries and just 24 per cent in financial services.

Steve Kendall-Smith, UK managing director at Fujitsu Siemens Computers said: 'With busy schedules, budget pressures and ever-changing business demands, CIOs and IT directors are struggling to keep their data centres in synch with their organisation’s requirements.'

Many of these CIOs and IT directors are opting for a quick-fix solution of buying more servers, but this is not a long term solution according to Kendal-Smith:
'They need to look to make investments in solutions that will meet their current and future needs – offering scalability to grow and adapt with their business, and extending the life of their data centre.'

Eight per cent of respondents admitted they were guilty of running overly complex data centres with many redundant systems, whilst only four per cent said they would benefit from starting all over again with modern infrastructure.

The problems were most severe in companies with between 1,000 and 3,000 employees where 35 per cent said their data centres will be outdated within a year. In companies with over 3,000 employees 28 per cent said this would be the case.
CIOs and IT directors are facing tough financial decisions with regard to current technology.

'They are no longer getting value for money. Return on investment on technology has peaked and software and hardware costs continue to rise. IT decision makers must be willing to look at new technology or face further drain on their company finances and risk losing their competitive edge,' said Kendall-Smith.

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