Datacentre hosts to charge double

Tariffs rise on popularity and capacity shortfalls

Datacentre hosting tariffs are set to double inside 18 months, a leading service provider warned today.

“We’ve put up prices by 60 percent this year and we’ll put them up again,” said Michael Tobin, chief executive of TelecityRedbus, the company that evolved out of a business combination of Redbus Interhouse and TeleCity, completed in January this year.

Constrained capacity, power and cooling costs are allowing third-party hosts to raise prices for customers. Many are building out, with TelecityRedbus planning to add 100,000 square feet in the next 12 months, but price rises remain inevitable, experts said.

Tobin expects another wave of activity to come from content providers.

“Content providers and connectivity providers need to be sitting on top of each other for anybody who wants to be making a living out of the media,” he said, noting the acquisition of Easynet by BSkyB as an example.

“Once you’ve got that hub you become a focal point.”