IDC's Core and Edge Computing Platforms service provides continuous market data and analysis of the worldwide hardware and software computing platforms markets. The infrastructure industry is in a state of transition, driven by disruptive trends such as cloud, hyperscale, artificial intelligence, silicon heterogeneity, blockchain, social media, and mobility. This service provides research and analysis on how these trends are reshaping the hardware (systems, platforms, and components) and software (operating systems, software-defined compute, and infrastructure software) markets. It also investigates how computing systems are built, acquired, and consumed: on-premises and off-premises, cloud and traditional IT, and edge. This service also analyzes significant new technologies, product introductions, and vendor strategies.

Core and Edge Computing Platforms
Markets and Subjects Analyzed
- Worldwide server market share, forecasts, and installed base
- Converged and integrated systems
- Cloud, hyperscale, and service provider infrastructures
- Composable and disaggregated systems
- Software-defined infrastructure
- Virtualization and cloud system software and the impact on servers
- High-availability (HA) and fault-tolerant systems
- Big Data, analytics, and database infrastructure
- Scale-up computing platforms
- Modular systems
- Edge computing infrastructure (gateways and systems)
- Next-generation computing platforms
- Vendor performance, strategies, and portfolios
- The role of operating systems in cloud computing
- The impact of thin operating systems on the market
- The relationship between OS and container technology
- The impact of virtualization on server operating platforms
- Accelerated computing
Core Research
- Worldwide Server Market Shares
- Worldwide Server Forecast
- Worldwide Cloud and Hyperscale Server Forecast
- Highly Available Server Market Forecast
- Artificial Intelligence Computing Forecast
- Worldwide Server Installed Base Forecast
- Operating Environments Forecasts and Analyses
- Computing Platforms Market Trends
- Accelerated Computing Forecast
- Edge Computing Forecast
In addition to the insight provided in this service, IDC may conduct research on specific topics or emerging market segments via research offerings that require additional IDC funding and client investment.
Key Questions Answered
- How will the emergence of converged systems, which integrate servers, storage, and network, impact the market?
- How will public and private clouds, service providers, and hyperscalers shape the server market in the future?
- What are the next set of trends in server virtualization — virtual sprawl, management, and mobility?
- How will emerging server technologies, including disaggregated and composable servers, impact the industry?
- How will advances in the multicore processors push the x86 server upmarket to address high-end workloads?
- How is the ODM portion of the server market evolving, and how is that changing the dynamics for other market segments?
- What operating platforms are going to be successful in a virtualized-, container-, and cloud-centric world?
- How will artificial intelligence and accelerated computing change the server industry?
- How will edge computing infrastructure evolve in the connected world?
- What will be the impact of IT/OT convergence on core and edge infrastructure?
Companies Covered
ADLINK Technology Inc., ADVANTECH Co., Ltd., AIC Inc., ALTERA CORPORATION, ARM Limited, ASRock Rack Inc., Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Broadcom Inc., Canonical Group Limited, Cavium, Inc., Celestica Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc., Compal Electronics, Inc., Cray Inc., Dell Inc., Docker, Inc., Ericsson, Facebook, Inc., Foxconn Technology Group, Fujitsu Limited, Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd., Google Inc., H3C Technologies Co., Limited, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Hitachi, Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd., IBM, Inspur Group Co., Ltd., Intel Corporation, Inventec Corporation, LSI Corporation, Lenovo Group Limited, MICROSEMI CORPORATION, Marvell Technology Group Ltd., MiTAC Inc., Micro Focus International plc, Micron Technology, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, NEC Software, NVIDIA Corporation, NetApp, Inc., Nokia Corporation, Nutanix, Inc., Oracle Corporation, Pegatron Corporation, QUALCOMM Inc., Quanta Computer Inc., Rackspace Inc., Red Hat, Inc., SAP SE, SK hynix Inc., SUSE, SYNNEX-Hyve, Samsung, SanDisk Corporation, Seagate Technology LLC, Stratus Technologies Inc., Sugon Information Industry Co. Ltd., Super Micro Computer, Inc., Symantec Corporation, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Unisys Corporation, VMware, Inc., Western Digital Corporation, Wistron Corporation, Wiwynn Corporation, Xilinx, Inc., ZT Group Int’l, Inc., ZTE Corporation