Today, on-premises data centers account for 40 percent of total data center capacity. The cloud is taking over, but less quickly than hyperscalers would like.

Your own data center or the (public) cloud? It’s an IT dilemma that has plagued businesses for decades. There is no more discussion about the public cloud growing like crazy. But the explosion of the public cloud doesn’t mean the end of on-prem data centers, Synergy concludes after a study mapping the global IT and cloud market.

By 2023, 40 percent of all data center capacity will be on-prem data centers. That is currently even more than the piece of cake that the large hyperscalers (37%) distribute to data centers that they operate themselves or outsource to an external partner. This leaves 23 percent for providers who are not allowed to call themselves hyperscalers.

Everything together in the cloud?

Synergy numbers show that the big cloud providers are increasingly taking over. In 2017, on-prem data centers accounted for 60 percent of total capacity, compared to 20 percent for hyperscalers. Today there are said to be around 900 data centers around the world managed by hyperscalers, and the trend is rising.

Therefore, according to Synergy, the real truth lies in the development of the investments. By 2027, investments in on-premises IT infrastructure will grow at a rate of 2 percent annually and investments in the cloud at over 40 percent annually. By 2027, Synergy expects that 60 percent of global data center infrastructure will be in the hands of hyperscalers. 23 percent of the data centers will then continue to support on-premise IT.

The number of on-premises data centers may decrease, but they will not completely disappear immediately. This is also confirmed by trends in the Belgian IT infrastructure. A survey conducted by Beltug among large companies shows that “cloud first” thinking is becoming obsolete. Organizations prefer a hybrid approach, keeping workloads and data in their own hands when needed.