FRAMINGHAM, MASS, USA: According to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Virtualization Tracker, worldwide virtualisation license shipments in the second quarter of 2008 (2Q08) increased 53 percent year-over-year, compared to a 72 percent year-over-year increase the previous quarter.

The x86 server market led the way with 60 percent year-over-year growth followed by the EPIC server market with 18 percent growth. Worldwide CISC and RISC server virtualisation licenses declined 15 percent and 7 percent year-over-year, respectively.

Brett Waldman, research analyst for System Software at IDC, said: "Quarterly totals of x86 server virtualisation licenses continue to experience healthy growth, although the growth rates have slowed over the last four quarters. The modest decline in growth rates indicates that the market is showing early signs of maturation. Based on our conversations with end users, IDC believes that the high-volume consolidation opportunities – the low hanging fruit in the x86 server virtualisation market – is starting to dry up. This is, in turn, resulting in smaller deals overall."

"The virtualisation platform providers are going to have to adapt their go-to-market strategies to this ever-changing dynamic, as new growth opportunities open up around new deployment of virtualised servers not specifically targeted at consolidation, and at new customer segments such as midsized companies," Waldman added.

Worldwide new server shipments virtualised increased 52 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, compared to 70 percent growth in 1Q08.

Worldwide virtualisation software revenue grew 15 percent year-over-year in 2Q08, compared to 32 percent growth in the first quarter of 2008. The growth in virtualisation software revenue primarily came from the x86 server market, which grew 39 percent year over year. EPIC virtualisation software revenue also increased year-over-year, albeit at a slower pace of 9 percent.