Canadian Hosting Infrastructure Services 2011-2015 Forecast

This IDC study of the Canadian hosting infrastructure services (HIS) market presents IDC's market sizing and spending forecast. The Canadian hosting market grew by 7.5% to reach C$684 million in 2010. A number of factors led to the strong 2010 results, including a recovering economy, strong demand, and continued adoption of IT outsourcing and managed services. The main story of the year was the expansion of datacentre space. Capital returned to the Canadian hosting market in 2010 in the form of new build, retrofits, and expansion announcements. More than 300,000 sq ft of new datacentre has broken or opened ground, culminating with Bell Canada's announcements of new facilities in Ottawa and the GTA early this year. There is no clear end to the buildout as IDC anticipates an additional 250,000 sq ft of space to come onto the market by 2013.

The Canadian datacentre story is closely linked to cloud computing, which grabbed headlines in the IT market last year. 2010 saw Aliant, CentriLogic, and RackForce throw their hats into the ring. While the cloud services offered by these providers have had minimal penetration to this point, the release of these services is critical to the future of IaaS in Canada. In 2011, IDC anticipates that at least half a dozen hosting providers and outsourcers will roll out Canadian infrastructure-based cloud services, helping reshape the HIS market. "IDC anticipates continued strong growth in the Canadian HIS markets," says Mark Schrutt, director of Services and Enterprise Applications. "IDC expects that from 2010 to 2015, the overall HIS market will grow by a 9.7% CAGR, or over C$400 million."