Name a likely trend for data centers in the coming months. Survey says--data centers are going to boom... again.

Compass Data Centers just released its a survey (conducted by Campos Research) stating 87% of companies surveyed plan to build a data center in the next 24 months--last year, it was 63%. (The other 13% of companies still use hand-cranked cash registers.) Compass Chris Crosby (left, at a recent Bisnow event) says this could mean a boon for data center developers since only half those companies who say they need new space will actually build it themselves.

Whats driving growth? New applications-- especially private clouds and the raw need for more data. "Today's new data centers are built to support higher-density applications. When you consider that new hardware increases the level of efficiency of each kW, today's data centers can delay the need to add capacity," Chris says. That said, the average size of data center needs are under 20k SF each(similar in size to a Compass product above--though we're convinced that's a scene from The Sims). Interesting note: survey respondents say they want the centers to be close to corporate HQs.