Cloud computing will dominate the IT space as the hottest technology for the next two years, followed by management and automation functions required for production and virtualized data centers, according to a recent study from TheInfoPro, a service of 451 Research (News - Alert).
In 2013, the highest spending areas were focused on the management and automation of virtualized data centers. For 2014, cloud platforms will jump to the top of the pack with 30 percent planning increased spending.
Cisco, EMC, HP, Oracle (News - Alert) and VCE stand out in the infrastructure segment as the vendors with the most upside opportunity for integrated infrastructure. EMC, Fusion-io, and server vendors Dell (News - Alert), HP and IBM get mentions in the solid-state disk segment.
TheInfoPro Servers and Virtualization Study also revealed spending on server virtualization is now shifting toward software-defined datacenters. This will also result in lower spending on infrastructure.
The report predicts an overall slowdown in spending expected in 2014, compared with 2013 across all infrastructure technologies, but the standout in both years is the x86 rack-format server, with 35 percent of respondents projecting less spending in this area in 2013 and 41 percent in 2014.
The Virtualizations server spending bubble has burst, and majority of customers expect to be in a steady-state purchasing environment for the foreseeable future, the research found. Server professionals are switching their attention to the software required to run cloud-ready data centers.
Many companies have increased their spending across the board in 2014 as compared with 2013, almost the exact opposite of the situation for infrastructure technologies, the research said.
Another trend gaining popularity is integrated infrastructure. The concept includes unified computing and converged infrastructure, which are currently in use by 32 percent and 17 percent of respondents, respectively. In the next two years, a further 10 percent and 16 percent of respondents will be actively considering each of these technologies.
Micro servers, on the other hand, have yet to gain any noticeable market traction, but are receiving some attention for possible future deployment by 5 percent of respondents.
VMware, Microsoft (News - Alert), Citrix and OpenStack all receive attention in the cloud space while VMware and Microsoft gain frequent mentions in data center management and automation functions.
"As organizations move beyond virtualization of production workloads, attention is shifting toward the management and automation of the software defined datacenter," said Peter ffoulkes, TheInfoPro's research director for Servers and Virtualization.
"Over the next two years, the foundations for enterprise cloud computing will be deployed with cloud platforms standing out as the hottest technology and the most critical strategic decision to be made," ffoulkes added.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson