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As
small to midsized enterprises work to make their servers more
efficient, they can expect to see shifts in what type of servers become
available, how software licensing is done, and whether cooling and
power can be used with greater ease.
As with any other area
of technology, server trends come and go, but many that are on the
horizon now are likely to have a major impact on data centers soon.
Here are some key trends that are worth watching over the next few
years.
As
small to midsized enterprises work to make their servers more
efficient, they can expect to see shifts in what type of servers become
available, how software licensing is done, and whether cooling and
power can be used with greater ease.
As with any other area
of technology, server trends come and go, but many that are on the
horizon now are likely to have a major impact on data centers soon.
Here are some key trends that are worth watching over the next few
years.
 More Efficient Cooling & Power Systems
Particularly
with the advent of blade servers, which concentrate power but throw off
a significant amount of heat, cooling has become a major issue in the
data center. Newer strategies such as creating a heat corridor are
rapidly replacing more traditional techniques such as pushing cool air
through floor tiles. Experts expect that as the issue continues to be
important, more technologies will address power and cooling
specifically, and manufacturers will pay more attention to how cooling
and power concerns impact server efficiency.
We expect to
see strong trends around modular, mobile computing and more efficient
cooling technologies, says Giovanni Coglitore, chief technology
officer at Rackable Systems (www.Processor.com/RackableSystems).
The data center of today, which is constrained by wall, power, and a
fixed amount of HVAC infrastructure, will be changed by a series of new
technologies designed to help IT environments achieve the highest
possible system performance and density without being constrained by a
given footprint over a power envelope, he says.
Leveraging
power-friendly innovations such as DC power or hydroelectric power is
just the first step, says Coglitore. A whole new wave of innovation
is on the horizon.
Rise Of Virtualization
If theres one major buzzword in the server industry, its virtualizationthe
ability to run multiple applications and operating systems on a single
server. Many believe the tactic is worthy of the hype because it can be
used in all types of data center environments, from those using
mainframes down to a few x86 servers.
Market research firm
Gartner has predicted that virtualization will have a dramatic impact
on new server sales, which could impact the sales of new servers and
lead server manufacturers to find other avenues for profit, such as
developing new tools, services, and add-ons.
One of the
biggest issues in the future of the data center is capacity planning,
and virtualization can help with that, says Gartner analyst George
Weiss. Any type of server development or deals that boost
virtualization will be appreciated by users, which will spur even more
shifts in that direction.
The Multicore Influence
Many
server vendors that are focused on the traditional rackmount arena or
offer blade systems are keeping an eye on multi-core CPUs as they
become more prevalent. Verari Systems (www.Processor.com/VerariSystems)
Chief Technology Officer David Driggers notes that multicore CPUs are
likely to be the biggest influence on how his company develops new
technologies.
According to Driggers, computers are becoming
much more powerful with multicore, leading to the boom in
virtualization and driving increased utilization of those efficiencies.
This rise in processing power will give SMEs more flexibility in how
they use computers and servers, Driggers says.
Multicore made a splash last year as Intel (www.intel.com) rolled out a quad-core processor, and AMD (www.amd.com) quickly announced its own rival processor, due to ship in the middle of this year. Sun Microsystems (www.Processor.com/Sun)
rolled out its 8-core Niagara chip and wasted no time in developing
Niagara 2, due out later this year. Experts have noted that it will
take time for this type of product announcements to translate into
changes in the data center, but the innovations are likely to spur
shifts in server utilization in the near future.
Licensing Changes
As
multicore processors become more prevalent, experts believe there will
be a continuing shift away from more traditional types of licensing,
which are often delivered on a per-processor or per-user basis.
Chipmakers
such as AMD, IBM, Intel, and Sun have all trotted out chips designed to
increase processing power while lowering heat generation and power
consumption, and those vendors have called on ISVs (independent
software vendors) to tweak their licensing in response.
Margaret
Lewis, AMD software strategy manager, has noted in the past that ISVs
should license by the processor, not by the processor core. Some in the
industry are moving in that direction, as when Oracle (www.Processor.com/ORCL) tweaked its licensing terms to accommodate multicore chips in response to customer complaints.
Blades Keep Coming
Although
many companies are still testing the capacity of blade servers and
working out how to fit them into their data centers, the technology has
been steadily increasing in enterprises of every size.
Some
IT managers expressed disappointment in the past that blades hadnt
delivered the server manageability and cost savings theyd expected,
but improvements over the past year in blade options are helping to
address those issues, says Vikram Mehta, president and CEO of Blade
Network Technologies (www.Processor.com/BladeNet).
By
the end of the decade, we think at least 30% of all servers will be
blades, Mehta notes. Just implementing one or two in a data center
can have benefits, and thats what people are discovering. Also, server
management can sometimes be a nightmare, but blades are very simple to
set up and use, so the benefits are significant.
Read the original article: http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Fp2908%2F20p08%2F20p08.asp
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