Virtualization integration Technology impacts traditional hardware industry

Virtualization and cloud computing have become an integral part of the storage, server, and network industries. It vendors are constantly developing technologies to build virtualized environments, calling on users to access cloud services to facilitate cost savings in energy and hardware.

For the IT industry, this is undoubtedly a great step forward. Whether for large enterprises or small and medium-sized enterprises, whether electricity or refrigeration, at least one thing is certain, the less the use of hardware, the lower the cost, so as to better reduce management manpower and upfront investment.

But this poses a new problem, whether the rise of integration technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing threatens the survival of the hardware industry?

Data shows hardware sales fall

Hardware procurement does show a downward trend, according to reports published regularly by major analysts, and most of the reports say it was caused by the recession.

The report, published this month by Gartner, predicts a 6% drop in total IT spending, with hardware performing at its worst, expected to fall by 16.3%, compared with a much better software scenario, with a fall of 1.6%.

Gartner and IDC reported a 24% drop in sales for the same period in May and June, the worst sales drop ever recorded, According to 51cto.com, Gartner was not always positive about the impact of virtualization on hardware, as early as April this year Gartner pointed out that it hardware spending dropped 3.8% in 2009.

And virtualization is a big difference, according to Gartner this spring's report predicts that the revenue of virtualization software in 2009 will increase significantly by 55%.

Virtualization hits hardware sales?

Hardware sales continue to fall, while virtualization is rising-it seems easy to link them together.

But Gartner analyst Rene Millman doesn't think it's that simple. "I don't think there is a causal relationship, but virtualization is really a stimulus, plus a recession," he said. "There's a bit of an impact, because in the last few years, virtualization does drive the trend toward server consolidation." ”

"However, while there is a certain impact, the hardware market will never crash and sales are going to rise again," he added, adding that dissenting readers could refer to 51cto.com's article, "virtualization will weaken the operating system's hardware," or find a sense of identity.

Receptacle Technologies, vice president of BLADE, Charles Ferland admits his company has had trouble with hardware sales and because of virtualization, but he believes the market will be made up elsewhere.

"While hardware requirements are down, customers in the data center will buy more powerful processors and configure larger amounts of memory to better handle the large number of virtual machines on each physical server," he explains.

So virtualization is obviously impacting hardware sales, but it seems just a natural change for the supplier and the industry simply needs to adapt to it.

Cloud computing-a threat from the sky?

However, virtualization is not the only it innovation technology that affects hardware sales. Cloud computing is another hot trend, and it allows businesses to buy fewer hardware devices.

For example, through cloud computing, storage as a service (storage as a) can be used as an alternative to data centers, and businesses will no longer need to purchase internal storage devices, and data will be stored in the cloud. So will the storage industry be affected?

Tony Reid, British director of Hitachi Data Services, said cloud services could pose a threat, but he did not think it was widely accepted.

"Cloud computing is largely limited to a hot topic, still in the ' hype ' phase," he said, "and of course its propaganda has a certain reason, because storage as a service is really useful, and many cloud applications are built very well." ”

"But overall, cloud services currently lack a number of key factors, such as security, SLAs (Service level agreements) and enterprise compliance by big businesses," he added. "Without these assurances, cloud services will not be able to meet the needs of the enterprise, and in this respect cloud computing cannot pose a threat to the hardware industry." ”

He is not the only one who thinks so. In a report released earlier this year, Gartner said the cloud is still ripe for a real move into the mainstream. Also last month, Gil Shwed, chief executive of security agency checkpoint, said cloud technology was "inherently dangerous".

Reid also believes that many of the cost savings on cloud computing are not worth believing. "From a storage standpoint, there is no report on the real cost of cloud storage," he declared. "Even without the big issues of security and compliance, there is no real evidence that cloud computing's total cost of ownership can be significantly lower than the traditional hardware approach." ”

This is true, although a lot of corporate data has been moved into the cloud, but key data will certainly remain in the data center box for a long time, but this does not prevent cloud computing from saving the future of our IT futures, and interested 51cto.com readers can refer to the Enumerate the seven benefits of cloud computing for security.

It seems to be safe for now.

The whole hardware industry seems to have reached a consensus that, while new technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing will affect the sales of hardware, they do not have too severe a impact.
and suppliers can adapt to these changes as long as they are well prepared.

Adam Thew, a business manager for HP's storage department, believes that the hardware market as a whole is not going to have any major losses, as long as the companies involved are able to do the innovation work.

However, he warns, "I would be a little worried if other companies are just trying to sell things and not work on innovative products like Dell." "We suspect that he is just trying to make a sarcastic remark," he said.

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Original: Are virtualisation and cloud computing hurting hardware sales? Author: Jennifer Scott