Four disruptive factors will force dramatic changes in the data centre (DC) market by year-end 2016, according to Gartner. Highly disruptive competition, big cloud provider dominance, economic warfare and nationalism will occur with different intensities over different time frames.
However, at least two of these factors will drive significant disruption within the next three years, and elements of all four will drive the opportunities and risks in the DC market during the next three to four years.
“There are four market disruptions in play in the DC infrastructure market. Elements of them are already in play, and will become visible no later than early 2016; however, radical action by just one significant player could accelerate the market disruption of any of the factors,” said Joe Skorupa, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst – Gartner.
Although, on the surface, the DC market is poised for growth, existing assumptions regarding the ongoing growth of the DC market are unlikely to be realized. They rely heavily on the current base of traditional enterprise IT end users, and a vendor community that is more likely to support the status quo, rather than introduce risk and break the enterprise IT mould.
“Underneath this calm surface, increasing market pressures are driving a change in vendor behaviours, which, along with the four disruptive factors, make the market ripe for a period of major disruption. These behaviours will become more obvious as the pace of change increases,” said Skorupa.
Gartner believes that vendor behaviours will fall into one of three categories: Protectors who aggressively defend their market share, revenue, profit margins and large installed base during periods of transition; Evolutionary Disrupters who strike a balance between disrupting the existing business model of protectors, while protecting their own business from other disrupters; and Revolutionary Disrupters who challenge the status quo, with more-nimble business models and less complex go-to-market strategies adopting radical new approaches to selling.