By Alix Pressley Head of Strategic Content

We take a look at this month ’ s biggest talking point for data centre leaders .

he month of October

GITEX is an opportunity for us to help spread messages more widely and ensure tech leaders are better able to communicate with their intended audience , as well as their industry peers . Whether it ’ s via roundtable discussions , in-person interviews or catching up over a coffee , we hear from those who are paving the way for innovation and contributing to Digital Transformation initiatives .

In collaboration with the event , we have produced a market research report to better understand technology investment and the regional landscape . To obtain these key insights , we surveyed 150 C-level executives to explore digital technology strategies and future priorities . revealed that the majority of C-level contributors will be investing in hybrid , whilst there was a balance between multi-cloud ( 32 %) and on-premise investment ( 32 %).

Security and governance concerns proved to be the biggest inhibitor to infrastructure modernisation – with 20 % of votes – while closely followed was management buy-in ( 19 %). Cost / budget constraints , however , received 0 % of the vote which is a positive result .

The most important considerations for selecting an infrastructure partner , according to those surveyed , revealed an industry trend prioritising technical competence over cost – as technology skills and number of skilled resources received a combined total of 42 % of the vote . This suggests long-term resiliency and expertise are key considerations when selecting an infrastructure partner .

Aside from the report , we are also planning the return of our awards evening – Intelligent ICT Awards Middle East – which we ’ re bringing back to the stage for a second year . The event aims to recognise the most transformative and defining companies and individuals in IT and I ’ m particularly looking forward to welcoming data centre innovators to hear how they are shaping the future of the Middle East data centre market . �

‘ Infrastructure ’ is one of the three chapters underpinning the report and the results of the survey enabled us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of long-term infrastructure plans , as well as how respondents prioritise infrastructure partners . The results showed a significant reliance on traditional infrastructure models , with 38 % still using legacy or onsite client server setups .

As part of the survey , we were curious to find out more about infrastructure investment in the long-term . The findings

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