Emerson Network Power, a business of Emerson and a global player in maximising availability, capacity and efficiency of critical infrastructure, has released the findings of its 8th bi-annual Market Pulse Survey which point to an improvement in datacentre and critical infrastructure market sentiment and a marked increase in investment.

The survey, which polls business leaders and datacentre personnel from Emerson Network Power’s extensive user base in Asia Pacific, shows all forward-looking indices are now in positive territory, contrasting sharply with the downward trends indicated in the previous survey.

“Just like their peers in the rest of Asia Pacific, companies in Australia and New Zealand are becoming more aware of improvements in infrastructure options as they seek to gain traction with optimisation efforts (energy efficiency, lower costs, improved performance), especially with the imminent Carbon Tax in Australia and the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme,” says John Simpson, Managing Director of Emerson Network Power in Australia and New Zealand.

“Companies are becoming more aware of the technologies that exist, and are more prepared to make the investment knowing they need to keep improving to stay competitive despite the ongoing turbulence in regional and global financial markets.”

The Emerson Network Power Market Pulse Survey is split into five key indicators, from which an aggregated market pulse score is determined. These include CAPEX, project forecast, project schedule, economic sentiment, and business sentiment.

The latter four are all leading indicators, while CAPEX is the only trailing indicator. The latest survey shows all four leading indicators are in positive territory, and only CAPEX – as expected – has remained static, a remnant of the previous six months’ outlook.

Forecast and scheduled projects have increased across the board, with forecast projects up 14 percent from the previous survey (alongside a positive but slightly smaller increase in actual deployments). Projects scheduled for the next six months are also up three percent on the last survey, with a five percent decrease in projects scheduled further than six months.

Interesting to note that despite an increase in the sample size of respondents of almost 40 percent, visible projects have risen by more than 60 percent.

While business sentiment per regional economies varies across Asia, expected performance of business is uniformly positive. With the exception of North Asia, economic sentiment has returned to the positive levels last seen in the first half of 2011, when the recovery from the global financial crisis (GFC) began to pick up momentum. The second-half of 2011 coincided with the emergence of the European Financial Crisis, which caused sentiment to dip.

Energy efficiency remains the number one priority for the majority of respondents, followed closely by cooling. For the first time since early 2010 – the very start of the GFC recovery – change management and technology changes has risen to third priority, more so than previous priorities such as density and visibility.