Industry news

Blade servers 'are a changing technology'

Blade servers now represent one of the fastest and most changeable segments in the server market, a leading IT analyst has said.

Gartner is predicting 19 per cent annual growth rate for blade shipments from 2007 through 2012.

The firm said companies would need to be prepared to adopt to further projected changes in the technology, particularly over the next five years.

Gartner analyst Andrew Butler said: "We are not suggesting that IT organisations stay away from blades - blades do address many problems in the data centre."

The firm has produced an overview of what blade changes network infrastructure managers can expect in the coming years.

Points include more flexible storage options and improvements in management software enhancements.

According to Gartner fabric speeds are continuing to increase in the sector with 10Gb Ethernet entering the market.

Gartner is a leading information technology research and advisory company delivering "technology-related insight" for businesses to make investment decisions.