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Linux Servers Gaining in the Enterprise: IDC
December 30, 2004 | CRN Canada-
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End-user adoption of Linux servers for enterprise workloads, hosting ISV applications and databases, is on the rise, fuelling a transition in the marketplace, according to a report published by IDC.
IDC said the annual growth rate of Linux server unit shipments has been increasing over the past three years, from 15 percent in the second quarter of 2001 to 40 percent in Q2 of 2004.
Given this rapid adoption, IDC said, the mix of form-factors for these Linux servers has been changing over time, with the result that dual-processor systems are the predominant form-factor, followed by uni-processors and four-processor systems. IDC said its study provides data about this trend and shows the market dynamics, by form-factor segment, within the Linux server market space.
“In the past few years, we have seen an increasing number of organizations adopt and deploy Linux for the basic infrastructure workloads, in part driven by their focus to reduce overall IT acquisition costs,” said Jessica Yang, an analyst at IDC who researches modular server solutions.
“More recently, customers are beginning to consider Linux servers for databases and other enterprise applications. We will see the Linux server platform become more diverse and take on more workloads over time as Linux server adoption broadens.”
IDC said the trend of moving enterprise workloads onto Linux server platforms is being boosted by the release of Linux 2.6, which supports scalable servers, by strong support from enterprise middleware players, and by the ability of Linux servers to take on stronger roles as database engines for multi-tiered computing infrastructure.
“Customers will be able to deploy Linux workloads on scale-out clusters of small Linux servers, on Linux servers with larger form-factors, or in partitions of high-end enterprise scalable servers,” said Jean Bozman, vice-president of enterprise computing at IDC. “The choice of form-factor for deployment of a given workload on Linux servers will depend on customer preferences and on workload type.”
The report, IDC Insight, Linux Servers Shipping in Many Form-Factors to Take on New Workloads, looks at the Linux server marketplace, by form-factor, with a view to shedding light on the changing nature of the worldwide Linux server marketplace. It provides IDC server data, by capacity and form-factor, that illustrate how the Linux server platform is becoming increasingly varied and capable over time. Average server prices have been rising, and the Linux server market continues to show double-digit revenue and unit shipment growth, year-over-year, according to IDC.
Researchers also concluded that:
* Linux represents about half of the worldwide server blade market, in terms of unit shipments, compared to 20 percent of all rack-optimized servers, and compared to 11 percent of all pedestal (standalone) servers;
* Between 1998 and 2003, the one-way (uniprocessor) segment of the Linux server market grew at a healthy pace, with a 37.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR);
* Growing at a CAGR of 89.8 percent from 1998 to 2003, dual-processor systems account for fully 74 percent of total Linux server shipment volume in the market today; and
* Worldwide Linux server customer revenue is expected to reach $9.1 billion (US) in 2008, driven by a CAGR of 22.8 percent, compared to the broad market CAGR of 3.8 percent for the worldwide server market. IDC forecasts that Linux server shipments will be 25.7 percent of worldwide server shipments in 2008, up from 15.6 percent of worldwide server shipments in 2003.
For more information, please visit www.idc.com.
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