New data shows shipments of cloud servers are set to significantly increase over the next year, thanks to the impact of cloud computing on IT.

Information and insight researchers IHS predict 2012 will see the shipping numbers of the computers used to power public and private cloud computing infrastructure set to soar.

Numbers increased in previous years from 460,000 units shipped in 2010, to 647,000 in 2011 and now the researchers predict 875,000 units will be shifted in the next 12 months - an increase of 35 per cent on last year.

Industry experts believe these figures tie in with the overall increase in uptake of cloud technologies globally. CBI Insights recently released report stated venture capital investment in cloud computing companies accounted for more than a quarter of internet deal volume and more than a third of internet investment dollars in 2011.

"Over the course of 2011, we’ve seen a steady uptick of venture investment into cloud-based software and services," said CB Insights co-founder Jonathan Sherry. "In Q4, cloud-based companies comprised 26.5 per cent of internet deal volume and 34.5 per cent of internet investment dollars."

As workloads increase, organisations are more likely to adopt cloud services due to the benefits the technology can offer - "performance is not the key metric here; what counts instead is expandability, energy efficiency and low cost," said the IHS report.

"Because physical footprint is valuable in a data center, the type of equipment that will find the greatest adoption in the space likely will include both rack-optimized servers and highly condensed blade servers, with their modular setup made up of a single motherboard incorporating microprocessors, memory and a network interface."

Written by Louise Boyd
 

Cloud server shipments set to soar in 2012