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IT Spend Shifts to Cloud and Hyperscale Infrastructure

Public cloud computing continues to impact all other forms of IT spending. Few enterprise CIOs and IT managers will increase spending on traditional data center servers, while many plan to increase their spending on converged infrastructure, according to the latest market study by 451 Research.

Moreover, those organizations that have the skilled technical staff are starting to make the switch to lower-cost open hyperscale infrastructure for the compelling economic advantages. This recent market study also shows that nearly 17 percent of survey respondents are 'very likely' to switch vendors over the next 90 days.

"Commoditization of x86 systems is catalyzing competition as decision-makers increasingly consider alternatives, including white-box (unbranded) servers. A growing opportunity exists for those vendors that can position their offerings to address key customer needs," said Nikolay Yamakawa, senior analyst at 451 Research.

Fifty-two percent of 'Standard' server customers are using HP Proliant, while Dell PowerEdge is used by 50 percent and captured the highest customer ratings.

According to the 451 Research assessment, vendors that rate most favorably among customers in the 'Converged' infrastructure space include HP Converged System, Dell Converged Solutions and NetApp FlexPod. VCE Vblock (owned by EMC) leads in adoption.

Cisco UCS is currently the third most-cited vendor in use, with 33.9 percent of respondents reporting Cisco implementations and another 19.3 percent considering Cisco as an alternate vendor. Furthermore, Cisco remains prevalent in converged infrastructure, with 25.2 percent of respondents citing Cisco as a vendor.

Meanwhile, VCE Vblock and NetApp FlexPod, which captured the highest adoption rates among respondents, both run Cisco UCS server components as part of their converged infrastructure platforms.

Additionally, a whole array of new vendors are starting to gain traction with hyper-converged offerings. Adoption of white-box servers is growing rapidly. Four percent of enterprises have already installed white-box (unbranded) servers -- another 6 percent are considering a switch to white-box servers from their current standard server vendor.

Speed and ease of deployment rank as top drivers in the shift to converged infrastructure; lack of in-house expertise is the biggest single inhibitor, according to survey respondents.

Forty-three percent of customers identify ease/speed of deployment and integration as the top benefits of converged infrastructure; lack of technical staff expertise is cited most often as a deterrent to adoption (41 percent of respondents).

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