IDC research shows that while volume servers have driven much of the unit growth in recent years, business demands require servers that are scalable and that support the highest levels of availability, performance, and resiliency. IDC’s workloads research shows the continuing demand for server systems that can support missioncritical database and enterprise application workloads with very high levels of resiliency and availability ? and the ability to scale up, as business needs change and the number of users accessing the systems reaches peak levels.

The datacenter of the future will be more efficient than the ones it replaces, aimed at consolidating workloads, improving utilization of compute resources through the use of virtualization technology, and supporting ever-changing business requirements with flexible IT infrastructure.

Business and IT are no longer separate, and competing, disciplines within the enterprise. Instead, IT resources will be mapped to business requirements, and IT managers will need to ensure that service-level-agreements (SLAs) for delivery of data services are met in a reliable way, day in and day out. Therefore, each component of the IT infrastructure must be made as available as possible ? and the individual components must combine to seamlessly support business priorities.

Server vendors are building Itanium-based systems designed to take on the role of supporting the most demanding business applications, as mainframes and scalable servers have done before. These systems support the requirements for reduced capex and improved opex at a time when both metrics are under intense review with each major technology purchase. Although Itanium-based systems must be evaluated for their technical features and product specifications, their demonstrated support for business value ? value for the amount spent ? makes them attractive platforms for use in today’s datacenter ? and the datacenter of the future.


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