HPC User Ratings Survey Names Processor, Server, Storage, and Cloud Vendors
SUNNYVALE, CA—September 28, 2020—HPC and hyperscale analyst firm Intersect360 Research has announced the
results of its broad-based end-user survey measuring factors such as usage, satisfaction, and loyalty for processors, servers, storage, and cloud computing
vendors in the worldwide High Performance Computing market, naming the top user-named vendors in 40 different categories.
“The results of this study provide tremendous insights into the competitive market dynamics in HPC,” said Intersect360 Research CEO Addison Snell. “These
end user ratings not only measure current market sentiment, but also indicate how the market is likely to shift in coming years.”
The full study gives user ratings of prominent vendors in major categories, such as awareness, technical impressions, operational impressions, and likeliness
to buy in the future. Further data analysis and segmentation is available to Intersect360 Research clients.
The top user-rated vendors across the measured categories are as follows:
Highest Level of Product Awareness
Processors: Intel Xeon CPUs
Servers: Dell EMC
Storage: Dell EMC
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Highest Level of Current Usage
Processors: Intel Xeon CPUs
Servers: Dell EMC
Storage: Dell EMC
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Highest-Rated, Technical Impression
Processors: NVIDIA GPUs
Servers: Cray
Storage: DDN
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Highest-Rated, Operational Impression
Processors: Intel Xeon CPUs
Servers: Cray
Storage: DDN
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Highest-rated, Overall *
Processors: NVIDIA GPUs
Servers: Cray
Storage: DDN
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Highest-Rated, Future Outlook for HPC
Processors: NVIDIA GPUs
Servers: HPE (including Cray)
Storage: DDN
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Highest-Rated, Likeliness to Use in Two Years
Processors: Intel Xeon CPUs
Servers: Dell EMC
Storage: Dell EMC
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Greatest Level of Vendor Product Loyalty, Based on Ratings *
Processors: AMD EPYC CPUs
Servers: Inspur
Storage: Qumulo
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Greatest Projected Adoption by Non-Current Customers, Based on Ratings *
Processors: AMD EPYC CPUs
Servers: HPE (including Cray)
Storage: DDN
Cloud: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Greatest Projected Market Share Gain, Based on Ratings *
Processors: AMD EPYC CPUs
Servers: Atos (Bull)
Storage: WekaIO
Cloud: Microsoft Azure
The study results make clear that Intel Xeon CPUs are still dominant in the HPC processor market, but also that AMD EPYC CPUs are highly thought of and
are gaining in both mindshare and market share. NVIDIA GPUs top the ratings in technical evaluation. The combination poised to gain the most, according
to the user ratings, is AMD, with EPYC CPUs plus Radeon GPUs.
“What users are really saying they want are NVIDIA GPUs together with either Intel Xeon or AMD EPYC CPUs,” explains Snell, “but that’s not the way the
market is heading, as each company is building its own integrated solutions.”
Snell continues, “As we have said in our other research, HPE is clearly benefiting from its acquisition of Cray. Even so, Dell EMC is a strong competitor,
and the two companies will continue to battle for market share supremacy. Companies like Atos and Inspur do very well in their local markets.
“In storage, we see the strong presence and solid evaluation of Dell EMC together with appreciation for the performance and scalability of DDN, locked
together at the top of the ratings. Smaller companies like WekaIO, Qumulo, and VAST Data do well among their current users and are projected by users
to gain.”
Confirming the trend shown in previous reports from Intersect360 Research, cloud computing has a clear top three, with Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure,
and Google Cloud dominating the ratings. “AWS nearly sweeps the categories at the top of user ratings,” says Snell. “Google Cloud is right next to
AWS in loyalty, and Microsoft Azure is showing the highest-rated growth possibilities. Alibaba Cloud scores well among a local group but has little
awareness or usage outside that.”
HPC User Ratings Survey: Awareness, Satisfaction, Loyalty Across Processors, Servers, Storage, Cloud is available as part of Intersect360 Research’s HPC
Advisory Service and is also available for individual purchase at www.intersect360.com and through sales@intersect360.com.
The vendors included in the study were as follows. Processors: AMD EPYC CPUs, AMD Radeon GPUs, Fujitsu A64fx ARM CPUs, Intel Xeon CPUs, Intel all other
(FPGAs, GPUs, neural, etc.), IBM POWER CPUs, Marvell ThunderX1/X2/X3 ARM CPUs, NVIDIA GPUs for HPC and AI. Servers: Atos (Bull), Cray, Dell EMC, Fujitsu,
HPE, Huawei, IBM, Inspur, Lenovo, Penguin Computing, Supermicro. (For future looking questions on servers, HPE and Cray were combined.) Storage: DDN,
Dell EMC, HPE, IBM, Netapp, Panasas, Quantum, Qumulo, VAST Data, WekaIO. Cloud: Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP),
IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Nimbix, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Penguin On-Demand (POD), R Systems, Rescale, UberCloud.
* Highest-rated overall is based on an average of technical and operational ratings. Vendor product loyalty is based on the percentage of current users
whose projected future usage is “about the same,” “more,” or “much more.” Projected adoption is based on the percentage of non-current users whose
projected future usage is “more” or “much more.” Projected market share gain is based on the percentage of users that indicated they were “likely”
or “extremely likely” to use in two years, versus the percentage that are current users, for each particular vendor.
About Intersect360 Research
Intersect360 Research is a market intelligence, research, and consulting advisory practice focused on high-performance data center trends, including High
Performance Computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, cloud computing, big data, and hyperscale. Intersect360 Research utilizes
both user-based and supplier-based research to form a complete perspective of market dynamics, trends, and usage models, including both technical and
business applications. The company’s end-user-focused research is inclusive from both a technology perspective and a usage standpoint, allowing Intersect360
Research to provide its clients with total market models that include both traditional and emerging HPC applications.
In addition to its market advisory subscription services, Intersect360 Research offers customers an array of client-specific services, including custom
surveys, white papers and custom analysis. More information about Intersect360 Research as well as the full slate of Intersect360 Research reports
available for purchase and download can be found at www.intersect360.com.