predictions...

January: the name of the game is "predictions for the new year"... :-)

An interesting post from The Digital Cave:

>>Top 10-ish Data Center Predictions for 2009

ON THE HOSTING INDUSTRY

The hosting providers are going to have a very good year. I would bet that these firms such as Equinix, Digital Realty Trust, CRG West, are going to have a banner year. With the general slow down of the markets, and tight restrictions on capital dollars, these folks will ensure pricing and demand both stay very high. Net result great profits for them, higher costs for the customers.

Digital Realty Trust will remain king in the REIT category of hosting providers. They are simply doing all the right things. I envision a cautious growth of new facilities and capacity in under-served or capacity hungry markets.

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In the colo provider space, players like Terramark, Equinix, and Savvis will also see a big uptick in revenues. With some markets as high as $175/sq ft/month it will become harder and harder to procure space and these folks will take advantage of that fact in spades.

As measured by stock price and/or earnings, Terramark will be the biggest winner in this space. Equinix will show steady growth and place second. Savvis is the wildcard. They will likely have a good year, but they will realize that they need better management at the top of their hosting business. The cries for better management and operations practices are already deafening.