As originally published on Data Center POST
By Mike Hollander, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, MOD Mission Critical
What do current oil prices and tensions between Russia and Ukraine possibly have to do with the need for scalable, secure data center colocation services? The answer is: more than you may think.
Like most Americans, you’re probably rejoicing at the fact that oil prices are the lowest they have been in several years. But some economists are concerned that plummeting oil prices could mean that the entire U.S. economy is actually on the verge of yet another collapse.
About six months ago, the price of crude oil was hovering at $109 per barrel. Since then, the price has dropped about 55 percent, as it recently fell to below $50 for the first time since 2009. Some experts even suggest that it could ultimately reach as low as $20 per barrel this year.
As a result of this dramatic decline in the price of oil, the U.S. economy is surging, and will most likely continue this upward trend over the next several months. In fact, according to Oxford Economics, the economy could increase by as much as a full percentage if the price oil falls to as low as $40 per barrel.
This dramatic decline could be both a blessing and a curse, however, for U.S. businesses. On the one hand, reduced gas prices could give American consumers as much as $120 billion to pump back into the economy, according to the aforementioned Oxford report. As more money is circulated, corporations will profit and look to expand several core business areas, specifically their data centers. In fact, an “explosion” of enterprise data is being predicted in 2015.
View this post in its entirety by visiting the Data Center POST blog at http://datacenterpost.com/2015/01/goes-must-come-secure-data-center-solution-unstable-economy.html.