HPC server market booming

The high-performance computing (HPC) server market is growing at 20 per cent annually, as much as five times faster than the rest of the server market, according to analysts.

Earl Joseph, head of HPC at IDC, told attendees of the launch of SGI's new HPC server in Dresden that the HPC server market is worth $10 billion (£5 billion) annually, and will see growth of 19.2 per cent this year.

While the market for commercial servers is growing at a steady three per cent, demand for cluster server systems in particular are increasing at a rate of 81.1 per cent, he said. "Clusters have gone from 10 per cent to 50 per cent of the market last year," he said.

Joseph said the demand for HPC servers is growing because they offer better performance for price, higher processing levels, and a lower total cost of ownership compared to alternatives, such as super computers.

While such high-power systems have traditionally been used by engineers and researchers in aerospace, automotives and science sectors, they're increasingly being used by enterprise to power the huge amounts of data created by business intelligence applications, Joseph said.

HPC server systems face challenges to their runaway growth, however. "The number one challenge is power, cooling and floor space," Joseph said.

The systems allow more computers on a fixed budget, but it means floor space is at a premium and cooling costs are high. Manufacturers of HPC servers will need to develop cooling systems, efficient powering and high-density set-ups to continue to grow at the current rate, he said.

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