Online staff--Electronic News
The Intel Itanium processor-based server market is entering a strong growth phase, according to industry analyst firm IDC.
According to IDC, the market for Itanium-based servers will grow to approximately $6.6 billion by 2009. Over the next five years, the compound annual growth rate for Itanium-based servers is expected to be 35 percent, compared to 3.4 percent for the overall server market.
Based on interviews with 501 members of IDC's Enterprise Server Customer Panel, the firm reported high customer satisfaction and solid intent-to-purchase ratings for Itanium-based servers. In addition, more than two-thirds of HP PA-RISC server customers interviewed plan to migrate to Itanium, IDC found.
"IDC's research revealed positive attitudes in the marketplace regarding the Itanium platform, specifically around awareness, purchase intent and current customer satisfaction among IDC's Enterprise Server Customer Panel," said Matthew Eastwood, IDC program VP of enterprise server research, in a statement. "Strong perception and awareness is a testament to the brand that Intel and HP have established."
HP Integrity servers are the No. 1 Itanium-based server platform in the industry, and HP had more than $1.6 billion in sales of HP Integrity server-related solutions in fiscal year 2005, according to IDC.
IDC's report follows the formation of the Itanum Solution Alliance Comprised of industry heavyweights including Bull, Fujitsu, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Hitachi, HP, Intel, NEC, SGI and Unisys formed last September to boost availability of Itanium solutions. Not all companies jumped on the Itanium bandwagon, however, as Dell and Sun Microsystems made campaigns to woo server customers away from the Itanium-based systems last year.
Itanium Solutions Alliance announced on January 26 it will invest $10 billion in developing the Itanium platform.
