Revenue from South Africa’s data centre market is set to increase by 70 per cent in the next four years, providing more resources for hosted services, according a study.
Consulting firm Frost and Sullivan (F&S) said data centre revenue in the country will increase from US$305.8 million in 2013 to US$521.7 million in 2018.
HumanIPO reported last week South Africa, which houses 70 per cent of Africa’s top companies, would be driving cloud adoption on the continent.
“Data centre service providers are seeking to expand their offerings beyond pure hosting or co-location. Managed hosting, virtualised offerings and cloud computing have gained currency, and are expected to drive market growth till 2018,” F&S said in a statement.
The company said enterprises appreciate the need to change their approach to business, adopting elements like on-demand bandwidth, storage facilities, high speed internet and network security.
“Therefore, companies are using third-party providers to manage specific data centre activities and achieve lower total cost of ownership,” the company said.
F&S said cloud computing exhibits the highest growth rate in the data centre market, but uptake is restrained due to issues relating to data security and control.
“Companies are increasingly segmenting their business, and consequently, view certain areas as strategic and mission-critical. They will be reluctant to transfer control of such functions to third-parties,” said Frost & Sullivan ICT industry analyst Ishe Zingoni.
“When drawing out their cloud strategies, enterprises will choose cloud models based on the sensitivity levels of their different operations.”
Despite the relatively small public cloud market, F&S expects its expansion as it predicts enterprises will be outsourcing their non-core operations.
“Eventually, as security concerns are allayed and business cases improve, there will be a substantial uptake of cloud-based business solutions, and a distinctive preference for hybrid-type cloud solutions,” said Zingoni.
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