Mobile and cloud computing spur tripling of micro server shipments in 2013, says report

Grazed from DigiTimes. Author: Joseph Tsai.

Driven by booming demand for new data center services for mobile platforms and cloud computing, shipments of micro servers are expected to more than triple in 2013, according to an IHS iSuppli Compute Platforms Topical report. Shipments of micro servers are forecast to reach 291,000 units in 2013, up 230% from 88,000 units in 2012. Shipments of micro servers commenced in 2011 with just 19,000 units. However, shipments by the end of 2016 will rise to some 1.2 million units.

The penetration of micro servers compared to total server shipments amounted to a negligible 0.2% in 2011. But by 2016, the machines will claim a penetration rate of more than 10% – a fifty-fold jump. Micro servers are general-purpose computers, housing single or multiple low-power microprocessors and usually consuming less than 45W in a single motherboard. The machines employ shared infrastructure such as power, cooling and cabling with other similar devices, allowing for an extremely dense configuration when micro servers are cascaded together…

"Micro servers provide a solution to the challenge of increasing datacenter usage driven by mobile platforms," said Peter Lin, senior analyst for compute platforms at IHS. "With cloud computing and data centers in high demand in order to serve more smartphones, tablets and mobile PCs online, specific aspects of server design are becoming increasingly important, including maintenance, expandability, energy efficiency and low cost. Such factors are among the advantages delivered by micro servers compared to higher-end machines like mainframes, supercomputers and enterprise servers – all of which emphasize performance and reliability instead."…

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