Build Or Colocate? The ROI Of Data Center Facilities In India

Data centers in India 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 in India 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 with leasing from a colocation provider. We applied Forrester's Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) analysis to a generalized facility starting at 350 kilowatts (kW) with annual IT power consumption growth of 10% and found that, while traditionally built data centers give complete control over the operational environment, leasing is still the most economical and risk-averse solution for many organizations. This report, and the TEI model that accompanies it, extends Forrester's previous research on the economics of data center facilities to help I&O professionals in India and elsewhere decide when to lease and when to build a data center given their unique circumstances.