TIP: Blade Servers Projected to Grow Fast Through 2010

Published: April 24, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Blade server sales are growing so fast that, in two years, they'll account for 50 percent of all new server sales, according to a report conducted by TheInfoPro (TIP), and publicized by IBM.

Based on a study of 137 IT professionals at Fortune 1000 and mid size companies that TIP detailed in its "Wave 4 Server Study," blades account for only 5 percent of installed servers in most shops. But, by 2009, two-thirds of the respondents report that more than 50 percent of all new server units acquired will be blades.

Several factors were credited with the predicted blade market surge, including virtualization, consolidation, reduced footprints, easier provisioning and centralized power and cooling units, and support for 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

Bob Gill, managing director of TIP's server sector, says enterprises have become increasingly receptive to blades since 2004, when users felt blades were immature and over-hyped. "Over the past three years, however, blade technology has advanced and now looks very attractive to corporate data centers that are simply running out of space or are burdened by a rapidly growing tangle of server and power connections," he says.

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