by Douglas Eadline, Ph.D. for Linux Magazine

There were more slides and numbers presented by IDC in their annual Supercomputing (SC) breakfast meeting. I have enjoy these early morning presentations each year at SC. In exchange for your time and contact information, IDC gives a presentation on the HPC sector complete with some of that coveted marketing data. The slides are sent to attendees after the meeting so you can study the “free marketing data” as you choose. A nice gesture by IDC.

This year IDC reported that the HPC sector grew 19% over last 5 years. IDC was forecasting 9.25% growth for the next five years, but they want to rework some of those numbers in light of recent economic events. Blades are making inroads into all segments while power, cooling, real-estate, and system management were identified as big challenges for data centers. In addition, storage and data management continue to grow in importance. Finally, they mention that software hurdles will rise to the top for most users due to multi-core and hybrid systems.

The new projections are expected by mid-December. I think it is important to remember, even if HPC spending is reduced by half, a 4-5% growth rate in a recessionary economy is nothing to complain about. Indeed, there are some big unknowns. Consider the automotive industry which represents a large part of the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) segment. Right now, HPC expenditures in this area are expected to plummet, however, if there is fashionable bailout then the Government may require “greener” cars which is going to boost the need for CAE and HPC.

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