Beaverton, OR – November 9, 2007 – Enterprise customers purchasing x86-based servers will be buying larger systems in the future, according to a survey conducted by Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG).
Some highlights from the ‘Buying Trends’ section of the survey:
· Almost half of the survey participants indicated that they will be buying ‘fewer’ or ‘many fewer’ single-socket servers; only 8% plan to purchase ‘more’ or ‘many more’.
· About 75% of respondents will continue or increase their purchases of multi-processor servers.
o 75% plan to purchase dual-socket systems in the near future;
o 72% say that quad-socket systems are in their near-term plans;
o 64% indicate that they will be purchasing or strongly considering greater-than-four-socket x86 servers in the near future.
GCG’s semiannual x86 Server Vendor Preference Survey grills real-world IT customers – managers, architects, and administrators – on a wide array of questions to determine their perceptions of vendor offerings and services as well as particular issues such as power/ cooling and floor space needs, virtualization, purchasing plans, and IT tren
The move towards larger servers is due to a combination of technology and market factors. “The advance of x86 virtualization (the ability to run multiple applications on single systems) is certainly a major reason why customers are looking for larger servers,” said Dan Olds, principal analyst at GCG. “When customers virtualize, they can reduce both the costs and complexity in their IT operations by eliminating small, underutilized systems – but they need larger systems in order to get the most benefit from virtualization.”
Other factors driving the move towards bigger systems include the decreasing cost of multi-processor servers and the increasing importance of the workloads running on x86 servers. As these applications grow, they need the headroom that larger servers can provide along with more sophisticated availability and management features that are generally found on larger systems.
The survey was conducted in the second quarter of 2007 and covered 297 enterprise data center respondents who work with systems on a daily basis.
Gabriel Consulting Group is a research, analysis, and consulting firm dedicated to helping our clients achieve maximum return on their Information Technology investment. We provide pragmatic consulting services, industry analysis, and custom research designed to help our clients reach their business goals through efficient and effective use of Information Technology. GCG was founded in 2001 by Dan Olds and is based in Beaverton, Oregon.
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For more information contact: Gabriel Consulting Group, 12570 SW Harlequin Drive, Beaverton, OR 97007 www.GabrielConsultingGroup.com