More Chinese firms will adopt virtualization technologies on
databases to cut hardware and maintenances cost and save energy, a
US-based IT research firm said yesterday in Shanghai.
The global demand of computer servers for enterprise-level data
centers is expected to reach 60 million units in 2010, and about a
quarter of that capacity demand will be met by the virtualized
servers but not real servers, according to International Data
Corp.
The virtualization helps chief information officers to save the
server budget and improve efficiency of the usage of power and
water, which helps protect the environment, according to Vicki Cui,
research manager of IDC China's computing system research.
Power consumption of data centers in the US will reach 100
billion kilowatts in 2011 if they use traditional methods, which
requires 10 additional power plants, according to a statement from
IBM, citing the US Environment Protection Agency.
China's adoption rate of the technologies, however, was only 17
percent in 2006, one-third of the rate in Japan and lower than
India, according to IDC.
"China's adoption rate will surge within the next two or three
years, firstly in companies with more than 100 servers," said Cui
at an IT forum in Shanghai yesterday.
"We have seen some vendors in the sector double revenue in the
past year," Cui added, without providing detailed figures.
Companies including Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Cisco talked about
the visions of future data centers, including virtualization.
IBM, which defines visualization as a green technology, said it
has great potential in China, a country aware of energy
protection.
(Shanghai Daily December 5, 2007)
