US corporations are planning a "significant increase" in the number of data centre projects during the coming 12 months, new research claims.

Around 86 per cent of respondents in a study commissioned by Digital Realty will 'definitely' or 'probably' expand the number of data centres in the next year.

The figure suggests an active phase of data centre development during the second half of 2008 and first half of 2009.

Digital Realty also found that 45 per cent of respondents plan to expand in three or more locations, an increase of nearly 20 per cent over 2007.

Planned square footage required for an average expansion site went up 50 per cent from 10,000 in 2007 to 15,000 in 2008.

"This survey of Fortune 2000 companies confirms what our team has suspected based on conversations with customers," said Michael F. Foust, chief executive at Digital Realty Trust.

"The demand for data centre space is accelerating and being driven by the rapidly growing IT infrastructure needs of companies across a wide cross-section of industries.

"Our 2007 survey indicated that there would be a significant volume of data centre projects on the horizon, and the increases forecasted in this year's survey are consistent with our new customer activity."

The power usage of data centres continues to grow, according to the survey, seeing a 12 per cent increase in average kilowatt use per rack in 2008 over the 2007 metrics.

The key drivers for data centre expansion are disaster recovery and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, followed by power requirements, new applications, more physical space, connectivity needs and cooling requirements.