Private Clouds To Fuel Massive Server Sales Growth

It may sound contradictory, but cloud computing will actually drive an increase in server hardware sales, according to recent figures released by IDC.

Cloud computing technology, by many accounts, was supposed to slow hardware sales, but the dawn of private clouds, IDC found, could fuel $6.4 billion in server hardware spending come 2014.

According to IDC, server hardware revenue for public cloud computing will grow from $582 million in 2009 to $718 million in 2014. But the private cloud market will have an even more dramatic impact on server hardware sales, propelling that market from $2.6 billion last year to $5.7 billion in 2014.

"Many IT decision makers are seriously considering cloud computing as a way to dramatically simply their sprawling virtual and physical infrastructure," said Katherine Broderick, IDC research analyst of enterprise platforms and data center trends. "However, there is still some lingering apprehension over issues like integration, availability, security, and costs. These concerns, and how they are addressed by IT vendors, will continue to guide the adoption of cloud computing over the next several years."

While cloud computing is supposed to reduce the overall amount of server hardware and reduce IT resources, IDC said that 44 percent of respondents are considering private clouds, which is adding to the increase in hardware spending.

At the same time, IDC indicated that public clouds will be less enterprise-focused than their private cloud counterparts and public clouds are less likely to be broadly adopted compared to private clouds. Additionally, public cloud computing has lower ASVs than an average x86-based server, IDC said.