Build Or Colocate? The ROI Of Your Next Data Center

Data centers are running low on space, power, and cooling capacity. When it comes time to provision new data center capacity, IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) professionals face a critical decision: build or lease. So what should you do? Forrester evaluated the leading approaches to expanding data center capacity, comparing traditional data center building, modular building, and leasing from a colocation provider. We applied Forrester's Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) analysis to a generalized facility starting at 500 kilowatts (kW) with an annual IT power consumption growth rate of 10% and found that, while modularly built data centers are more economical than their traditional counterparts, leasing is still the lowest-risk solution for many organizations. This report, and the TEI model that accompanies it, will help I&O professionals decide when to lease and when to build a data center given their unique circumstances.