IT research group IMS Research announced the results of a new report that show that shipments of containerized data centers are forecast to grow 40 percent in 2013 compared to 2012, following a near doubling of the market in 2012.

The report mirrors findings released last week by Pike Research which forecasted that the worldwide market for green data centers will grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 28 percent from $17.1 billion in 2012 to $45.4 billion by 2016.

Though containerized solutions have been around since 2005, the market has only begun to establish itself in the last two years.

IMS Research has defined a containerized data center as a prefabricated, fully enclosed, mobile structure that houses data center infrastructure.

The three distinct product types that fall under the aforementioned definition are all-in-one, IT, and facility containers.

Shipments of IT containers will account for the greatest share in 2012. One facility container often supports multiple IT containers, which has an effect on ratios. Regionally, the greatest number of containerized data centers will ship to North America in 2012.

Some of the earliest adopters of containerized solutions are US-based companies, such as Google, Microsoft, eBay, and Amazon.

The report shows that growth will continue to be consistent for shipments to North America, while shipments to China are forecast to grow at nearly double the rate over the next five years due to the rapid growth in data centers in the region and the need for faster deployment times.

IMS Research said the Chinese market needs to reach price parity with traditional data center builds to ever achieve widespread adoption.

“The benefits of containerized data centers are significant: mobility, speed of deployment, off-site manufacturing, outsourcing of design, and potential tax savings,” said IMS Research’s senior analyst Liz Cruz. “Unfortunately, the current higher price of containerized solutions, as compared to like-for-like traditional builds, outweigh these benefits in many customer decisions. However, IMS Research believes that standardization of products, and the resulting economies of scale, will allow for prices to drop and the market to really take off.”

Savvis announced this week it opened its modular data center in Frankfurt, Germany.

The report looks at estimated unit shipments, average sale prices, and revenues for 2012 and forecast through 2017, diving them into sub-region, product type, IT load rating, and vertical market.

The report also provides supplier market share estimates for 2012, and an analysis of the competitive environment.

IMS Research is also offering reports on other areas of data center infrastructure research, which are available for purchase on its website.