Use of specialist consultants, such as IT contractors, in the pursuit of data centre solutions is on the increase, according to the latest research.

Bespoke design company Sentrum said that the number of IT managers who would hire a specialist consultant when designing a data centre has now jumped to 88 per cent, compared to 52 per cent who felt this way 12 months ago.

However, there remains a serious trust issue when it comes to opinions on data centre solutions, the company claims, as 97 per cent of the firms polled said they had ignored some or all of the advice consultants had given them.

Sentrum's development director and partner Franek Sodzawiczny says that any money paid for a consultant IT contractor should be cost-effective.

"But the research shows that this just isn't the case. If this lack of trust continues to be apparent, many businesses will simply fail to reap the savings that quality consultancy should, and could, deliver," he said.

Programme director for infrastructure at Capgemini Paul Wilson recently claimed that modular data storage produces ten times less carbon that traditional solutions.