INDUSTRY

SAN JOSE, CA -- The growth of the Internet has caused an explosion in the demand for front-end servers resulting in greater space and power needs. Blade servers could meet that need, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT)(NYSE:ITB). Gartner Dataquest forecasts worldwide blade server shipments to grow from 84,810 units in 2002 to more than 1 million by 2006. A blade server is a server contained on a card. Rather than installing servers one chassis at a time into a rack cabinet as is most common today, with blade servers, network administrators can install a server card (or blade) into a chassis that has multiple slots to hold these server cards. "A lack of standards will be a primary market inhibitor as many end users will be reluctant to install a blade server that appears to be proprietary. This restriction on blade server demand will encourage the development of a standard designed specifically for blade servers to which the worldwide server vendors adhere," said Jeffrey Hewitt, principal analyst covering servers for Gartner Dataquest's Computing Platform Worldwide group. "The acceptance of such a standard should help reduce end-user inhibition to install blade servers." Gartner Dataquest analysts recommend that server vendors help drive the development of a blade server standard. Until such a standard is developed and met, vendors should have a blade server product line to keep from being "locked out" of sales that require blade solutions. Partnering with smaller blade vendors or leveraging existing development would be the most efficient way to enter this market without overspending. "For vendors to gain any competitive advantage and enjoy market share from this cycle disruption, the blade product offering must include demonstrable advantages for customers over rack-optimized servers," said Hewitt. "These include significant space advantages, proven ease of installation and removal and management software that facilitates the installation of blades into an enterprise environment." Potential customers of blade server technology will need to weigh their priorities carefully to decide whether to use blade servers. If server density is an overriding concern, then customers may feel an urgency to adopt blade technology as soon as possible. This must be balanced with the lack of compatibility that will exist between blades from different vendors. Gartner Dataquest analysts suggest that most customers hold out for more mature products that adhere to standards truly developed for blade servers. These products should include significant server density advantages as well as the software and hardware features to bring strong management and availability features to make blade servers highly appealing. More detailed analysis on the blade server market is available in the Gartner Spotlight report "Server Blades: The New Cutting Edge for Servers." This Spotlight features reports on the outlook for blade servers, and provides analysis on the complexities of these systems and where the best potential lies. This Spotlight can be found on Gartner's Web site at http://www4.gartner.com/1_researchanalysis/focus/hwsys012202.html