451 Research Report: UK

The Network-Driven Economy in the UK

It is a commonly held view that over time a network-driven economy will become the everyday premise of all businesses dealing with information and data, but what are the current views of companies who are already high-bandwidth users of network or data services? And what should organisations be considering to future-proof their investments?

For this report 451 surveyed 100 companies. All the selected companies had significant operations in the UK and classed themselves as high-bandwidth users of network or data services.

The survey showed:

The UK is a hub for global service delivery. Globally, London’s Docklands is one of the most connected locations in the world. This ability to provide international connectivity is increasingly important and one of the largest benefits of doing business in the UK today for high-bandwidth organisations.

Current and future bandwidth requirements will grow. We can expect to see steady growth in essential IT services such as security, storage and backup, with an increased emphasis on big-data solutions, hybrid cloud delivery models, private cloud, and continued investment in proven services such as colocation and public cloud.

48% of companies surveyed expect to require additional data centre supply in the next 12 to 24 months. For the majority of companies this was for disaster recovery purposes.

Colocation is an enabler of the network-driven economy. Colocation was also identified as a key enabler for regulatory and performance requirements and the rollout of or access to new technologies and markets. Companies recognised that colocation can, in many cases, offer a faster, more efficient way of meeting many needs; for example a Point of Presence (PoP) inside a single market or multiple markets on the European continent, meeting European Union data regulation requirements, a PoP in a new region to test market demand and to enable large fluctuations in demand where for example there is a launch of a new product. The list goes on.

High-bandwidth users are increasingly seeking solutions at the “edge” of their network. This is to improve performance or lower the cost to deliver services.

The interconnected community (or ecosystem) is set to grow. The trend within data centres where cloud service providers and their peers and other service providers can connect with enterprises or one another, and network services can also be delivered is set to continue. This interconnected community or ecosystem reduces reliance upon the public internet, provides higher security and lower latency. The leverage of an interconnected community is even more apparent where companies want to use truly hybrid cloud scenarios where workloads need to move between cloud environments and require low latency, low cost and high security to do so.

Read the full report to find out more information about the views of our companies surveyed and what organisations should be considering to future-proof their investments.

451 Research
451 Research is a preeminent information technology research and advisory company. With a core focus on technology innovation and market disruption we provide essential insight for leaders of the digital economy.