NDCF Poll: Charity Begins at Home

What would you do with $3 billion? Buy a sports team? Squander it on fast cars and fast boats? The average data center manager would share the windfall with family and friends -- an admirable sentiment, but... well, a little dull. These are the findings from the most recent NDCF poll, which was prompted by the hype surrounding last months Google IPO (see Gettin’ Googly and Tracking Google's IT Booty).

As the research revealed, charity clearly begins at home for data center managers: A third of respondents would be only too happy to share the spoils with their nearest and dearest. However, nearly a quarter fancy themselves as budding Donald Trumps. Twenty-three percent said they would use the cash to start a company. Sadly (but perhaps not surprisingly), a mere 13 percent planned to use the money to support good causes and fight world hunger.

When asked whether the money would change them, nearly half said yes, but just under a quarter admitted that they were far too grounded for all that.

As for the Google IPO itself, data center managers clearly know the markets. Fewer than a quarter expected the offering to bring in $3 billion, as some estimates had originally predicted. Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed instead predicted that the IPO would bring in $1 billion or $2 billion. In the event, the IPO fell between those two figures, raising $1.7 billion.

But there was one issue on which nearly all data center managers agreed: Over 90 percent of those taking part felt that Google execs, investors, and insiders are the biggest winners in the IPO. Perhaps a sign of the changing financial climate surrounding the IT industry, only 2 percent saw Wall Street as the biggest winner.The financial theme continues with this month’s NDCF poll: Spending Plans.

— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-gen Data Center Forum