These are the more commonly used terms in our studies. We also maintain an acronym buster.

Architectures – Servers are segmented by the way in which their processors work together. In particular:

1. Loosely Coupled – processors in these systems each have their own memory; often referred to as Clustered or ‘scale out’
2. Massively Parallel – these systems link multiple processors (each with their own memory) together and are typically used for High Performance Computing
3. SMP – Symmetrical Multi- Processor systems share memory between 2, 4 or more processors; they are ‘easy to programme, hard to scale; often referred to as ‘scale up’

Custom software development is predominantly represented by spending on new applications. These services include the process of defining requirements, planning the structure, developing code, monitoring progress and testing results. Associated software tools map phases of the software development life cycle
and typically include design, construction, automated software quality and portfolio management.

Form Factors – Servers are segmented into a number of form factors, which include:

1. Blade – these are customised proprietary processors complexes which fit into vendor- specific chasses
2. Cabinet – are used for larger servers in which all components are integrated into a vendor- specific system
3. Rack-Mount – these are complete servers designed to fit standard 19” racks, typically used in data centres
4. Tower – these are typically smaller footprint deskside machines

Server Hypervisors – Virtualised servers can be segmented by the Hypervisor used to run virtual machines. In particular:

1. ESX – VMware’s hypervisor runs exclusively on x86 processors
2. KVM – an open source hypervisor running on x86 and other processors running Linux; strongly associated with Red Hat
3. Xen – an open source product running on x86 and other processors running Linux operating systems
4. Other hypervisors – operating systems for CISC and RISC processors have hypervisors and other virtualisation techniques (such as partitioning) provided by their suppliers – IBM’s PowerVM runs on its AIX-based Power processors for instance

Storage Hypervisors – Virtualised storage can be managed in different locations. In particular:

1. Disk Array – disk controller manages other disk sub-systems
2. Appliance – an x86 server managing other disk sub-systems (a software solution)
3. Network – a storage network resource that manages other disk systems
4. Server hypervisors – a resource that is tightly controlled in a server hypervisor and controls disk sub-systems

Knowledge transfer - The market for professional services was born from the need to access and transfer knowledge. In this category, we include:

1. business consulting – time spent helping customers develop new business strategies or improve business process as a consequence of available information technology
2. technology consulting – time spent helping customers exploit technology to meet business needs
3. education – standard or customised programmes to help customers increase their awareness of how to benefit from information technology
4. training – standard or customised courses to raise skill levels
5. certification – standard or customised programmes to recognise skills and/or experience

Maintenance and support activities represent a large part of IT operations, and occupy significant IT management time and energy. Most enterprises contract for maintenance and support from the technology vendor in order to assure fastest access to development teams. However, cost conscious enterprises have also created a market for third and fourth party maintenance providers. Maintenance contracts can cover specific technologies such as desktop systems, servers, networks, operating systems, infrastructure software and utilities, data management and applications. Several tasks are critical in the maintenance and support spectrum:

1. installation assistance
2. usability assistance
3. remote troubleshooting and support provided via the telephone and online channels
4. on-site or depot repair
5. migrations for major releases of software
6. pay-as-you-go (incident-based) support contracts

Processor Types – The server market is segmented into three types of processor. In particular:

1. CISC – Complex Instruction Set Computing processors include IBM’s S/390 microprocessor and older minicomputer and mainframe chips from Bull, Unisys, Hitachi and Fujitsu
2. EPIC – Explicitly Parallel Instruction set Computing is used to describe Intel’s Itanium processor primarily used by HP RISC – Reduced Instruction Set Computing chips include IBM Power, Oracle/Sun Sparc, HP Alpha and PA and Mips processors
3. X86 – manufactured by Intel and AMD (originally Intel, Zilog and Motorola), these machines run the standard x86 instruction set; 64-bit versions (launched in 2003) are sometimes referred to as x64 – separating older chips as x32