Quoting from The Register:
Analysts and executives came out this week and declared that x86 server shipments will likely decline as VMware, Microsoft and a host of start-ups push their virtualization wares at speed. This thesis du jour centers on the notion that customers will buy fewer low-end systems, since they’ll be running more software per box thanks to virtualization technology.
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Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., has chipped in on the gloom and doom scenario as well in a new research report.
“As the use of server virtualization rises, a negative impact on x86 server demand appears all but inevitable,” he wrote. “While we still positive x86 server unit growth in 2007 and 2008, our forecast calls for shipments to contract in 2009 and for growth to be about zero between 2007 and 2012, compared with historical double-digit gains.”.
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According to Sacconaghi, the trend toward larger systems will hurt Dell, since it has specialized in two-socket gear. It will, however, also hurt Sun, since x86 virtualization will only speed the move away from Unix systems…
Read the whole article at source.
Before Bernstein also IDC predicted a severe decline in physical server market, estimated to grow up to 2% within 2011.
The virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Predictions has been updated accordingly.