Press Releases

Blade.org Survey Shows Blade Servers Are the Preferred Virtualization Platform Among Both SMBs and Enterprise IT Organizations

Highlight: Virtualization on blade servers the favored choice (82%) in large data centers

PISCATAWAY, NJ, March 26, 2009 -- Blade.org, an open industry consortium focused on BladeCenter®-based solutions, today announced the results of an Internet-based survey on virtualization adoption. Survey results recorded during the 4th quarter 2008 and the 1st quarter 2009 show that both large enterprises, defined as organizations with IT budgets over $1 million annually, and SMBs (small and medium sized businesses) have moved rapidly to adopt virtualization technologies using blade servers as their preferred hardware platform.

"Blade.org's survey found that 82 percent of large IT organizations have implemented or are planning to implement virtualization on blade servers in the data center," said Lisa Galish, Blade.org Marketing Committee chairperson. "However, even in SMB organizations, 28 percent have already virtualized on blade servers with an additional 36 percent in the planning stage. Blade servers have fundamental advantages in infrastructure consolidation, ease of management and cost reduction features that make them an ideal platform for virtualization technologies."

Key Survey Results for Large Enterprise IT Organizations – 23% of respondents:

• 44% of large enterprises have already implemented virtualization using blade servers
• 38% of large enterprises are planning to virtualize using blade servers
• Less than 1% of large enterprises have no plans to virtualize
• VMware is the preferred virtualization software platform with 82% penetration
• Xen (44%) and Microsoft (25%) are also important players (organizations are actively implementing multiple virtualization vendors)
• Reasons for virtualizing include: Cost Savings and High Availability, tied at 77% each, Energy Efficiency (67%), Ease of Management (63%), and Easy Disaster Recovery (38%)

Key Survey Results for SMBs – 77% of respondents:

• 28% of SMBs have already implemented virtualization using blade servers
• 36% of SMBs are planning to virtualize using blade servers
• 15% of SMBs have no plans to virtualize (stated reasons included cost, lack of information, not easy enough, still surveying the market)
• VMware (65%), Xen (27%) and Microsoft (21%) are the leading software providers
• Important motivators for virtualization include: Cost Savings (65%) Ease of Management (56%), Easy Disaster Recovery (55%), High Availability (48%), and Energy Efficiency (46%)

The most recent IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker released in late February showed strong growth in shipment and revenue growth in the blade server segment, reversing the overall decline in the server market. Said Dan Harrington, research analyst, IDC's Enterprise Platforms Group, "End users continue to invest in blades as an attractive option due to their TCO advantages and energy efficiency benefits." The Blade.org survey data confirms that most enterprises believe that they can reduce costs with virtualization technology running on blade servers.

BladeCenter is a registered trademark of IBM in the U.S. and other countries.

About Blade.org

Blade.org is a collaborative vendor and end-user community focused on accelerating the development and adoption of blade server solutions. The organization provides leadership to the blade market and fosters a thriving industry ecosystem focused on delivering valuable solutions to blade computing customers. More information is available at www.blade.org.

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Editor Contact:
Chris Bailey
Embedded Insight, Inc.
650-464-1808