Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of 2010 x86 Server Vendor Research
Leading Enterprise IT Departments Weigh x86 Server Offerings With Eye Toward Facilities Management and Power, Floor Space Savings
BEAVERTON, Oregon – Feb. 15, 2011 — Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings of its fourth annual 2010 x86 Server Vendor Preference survey, a report focused on vendor selection trends among 199 enterprise data center managers responsible for data centers of all sizes.
Key findings from the ‘Facilities’ section of the survey include:
- More than half of respondents indicate that data center facilities (power, cooling, floor space) heavily influence their server choices.
- The biggest problem these customers face is overall electrical capacity, closely followed by a lack of data center floor space.
- Close to three-quarters of the respondents expect facilities concerns to become an even larger purchasing decision factor in the coming year.
“Given the massive growth in IT infrastructures over the last 20 years, it’s easy to see how IT facilities consumption has become a large line item on the expense side of the ledger,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “Even without the current economic tough times, we’d still see companies looking to optimize facilities usage to reduce cost growth and avoid outsized expenditures. Building new data centers isn’t cheap or easy.”
The survey also found that many data center managers and facilities managers work in close partnership. More than half of data centers are financially responsible for their use of energy and real estate, putting the onus on them to minimize expenses through better IT management and more efficient equipment. Survey respondents expect that this dynamic will only intensify as time goes on.
Additional key findings include:
- Customers don’t view any of the major vendors as having a substantial lead in terms of how well their x86-based offerings utilize power or minimize their footprint.
- The large majority of customers (more than 60% in some cases) see little, if any, difference in either the energy efficiency or density offered by systems from Dell, HP, IBM or Oracle.
- Among the customers who do see a difference on these measures, HP and IBM tended to lead Dell and Oracle on most survey categories.
“Every vendor is telling a story that emphasizes how many of their systems you can cram into a small area and how little juice they sip. There’s a lot of noise in the industry surrounding these issues, so customers are understandably confused. While these factors are becoming increasingly important in dictating purchasing decisions, it’s not going to be easy for any of the major vendors to differentiate themselves due to the rapid pace of development by their competitors,” said Olds.
GCG is also releasing findings from other sections of the 2010 x86 Server Vendor Preference survey. More information and detailed results are available here. Follow Dan Olds on Twitter @danolds.
About Gabriel Consulting Group
Gabriel Consulting Group is a research, analysis, and consulting firm dedicated to helping clients achieve maximum return on their Information Technology investment.
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Contact: Dan Olds
503-372-9389 Office
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