Ireland is the fastest rising nation in its region for data centre use and sophistication, according to an independently-produced data centre index issued by technology company Oracle.

In its latest index, produced by Quocirca for Oracle, Ireland has come from a laggard position in last year’s survey – it was only ahead of Russia in the category of data centre sophistication of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) countries – to overtake the entire Middle East region as well as France, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

Ireland was the fastest rising country overall in this third survey based on significantly increasing its scores in the areas of sustainability, flexibility and supportability, the key measures used to produce the index.

Ireland’s overall business score was 5.59, rising from 4.79 in January 2012. However, the overall EMEA average score was 5.64 – up from 5.58 last year – placing Irish businesses slightly lower than the EMEA average.

“Ireland is doing very well. Compared to last year, there’s significant improvement across all areas. The euro zone fared a lot worse than non-European countries, with the exception of Ireland, which outstripped its colleagues,” said Jon Paul, sales director for Oracle Ireland.

The biggest shift for Irish businesses was in the area of data centre sustainability and improved energy efficiency.

Ireland scored particularly well on such longer-term issues which “probably reflects the number of multinationals” improving their data centres, said John Caulfield, solutions director, Oracle Ireland.

The survey showed that 40 per cent of Irish respondents said they expected to need a new data centre within two years to replace aging or inadequate technology. Elsewhere in the EMEA region, the top reason to add a new data centre was consolidation across the business.

The latest survey shows a rise in the number of Irish respondents saying they will need a new data centre within one year – increasing from 16 per cent a year ago to 24 per cent.

The percentage in Ireland saying they see no need for a new data centre in the foreseeable future dropped sharply, from 18 per cent last year to just 4 per cent in the current survey.

The countries that are most advanced in their data centre investments are the Nordics, Germany, the UK, and Benelux respectively, with Ireland coming fifth.