Despite interest in cloud computing models, a future where ANZ organisations no longer buy servers is unlikely to come in the next five years, according to recent IDC research.

"On one hand the Australian server market remains robust and will continue to be so out to 2015, reflecting a positive sentiment across the ICT industry," said Trevor Clarke, senior analyst, infrastructure at IDC.

"However on the other hand, as a result of economic troubles and the impacts of natural disasters, New Zealand organisations will face a tougher 2011 than their peers across the ditch with spending on server platforms tempered. However, NZ spending on servers will also continue to grow until 2015."

IDC's recently released ANZ server market analysis forecasts flat growth in customer revenues across the region as a result of falling price, although growth can be expected from x86 platforms.

"Virtualisation and multicore technologies will enable customers to migrate higher-end enterprise workloads from Unix and mainframes to x86 server platforms. This will result in the x86 segment growing faster than all other CPU types and make server systems based on this architecture the most popular across ANZ," said IDC associate director, infrastructure, Matt Oostveen.

IDC also forecast an ongoing shift to high density computing based on blade technology and increased interest in integrated infrastructure. It predicted linux will continue to encroach on Windows OS' market share in the next few years.