For anyone needing yet another data point to show that cloud computing is driving IT, check out new projections from IHS.
The researcher predicts that unit shipments of “cloud servers” — computers used to power public and private cloud computing infrastructure — will soar to 875,000 in 2012, up a whopping 35 percent from 647,000 units shipped last year. This server segment has nearly doubled since 2010, when 460,000 such boxes sold, according to IHS, formerly known as iSuppli.
These numbers bolster other research showing that the cloud computing juggernaut continues to roll. For example, recent CB Insights data found that venture capital investment in cloud computing companies accounted for more than a quarter of all Internet-related deals and more than a third of Internet investment dollars last year.
Servers typically used to run cloud data centers have to be easy to maintain and configure, so they can be connected and disconnected with minor disruption as they fail or more need to be added as workloads grow.
That means, according to the IHS iSuppli Compute Platforms topical report, that “performance is not the key metric here; what counts instead is expandability, energy efficiency and low cost.”
The report went on to say that:
[B]ecause physical footprint is valuable in a data center, the type of equipment that will find the greatest adoption in the space likely will include both rack-optimized servers and highly condensed blade servers, with their modular setup made up of a single motherboard incorporating microprocessors, memory and a network interface.
For this report, IHS analyst Peter Lin included servers used to run consumer-oriented clouds like Apple iCloud, Google services, and Amazon Web Services as well as more enterprise-oriented cloud platforms that target business applications. The problem for server vendors is that these huge cloud purveyors seek commodity boxes with rock-bottom prices as opposed to more pricey high-end offerings.
Lin does not expect this growth to be short-lived: He expects this cloud-server category to become the fastest growing segment in the server industry by 2015.
Feature photo courtesy of Flickr user The Planet
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