Clouds, what are they? There are oversimplified answers, racks of servers. The other answer is a data center. Data centers can be viewed as yet to be miniaturized chips and modules, also known as chiplets, or 2.5D and 3D chip stacks. However that is not the totality of what data centers are comprised of. Data centers are also comprised of power sources, antennas, fiber and Ethernet cable, cooling systems. steel and stone and of course, lots and lots of servers and server software.
Servers are not classified with one classification. Besides numerous traditional server categories, like emerging markets. there is an ever expanding number of emerging server categories or new server markets.
Traditional Server Classifications
- Email Servers
- Database Servers
- Application Servers
- Middleware Servers
- Network Servers
- Low Power Servers
- High Speed Servers
- High Reliability Servers
- High Security Servers
Today, in 2022, new server classifications have resulted from technology’s evolution, customer and market needs and associated government and industry regulations.
Emerging Server Classifications
- Graphics Servers
- Audio Servers
- Sensor Data Servers
- Neural Network Servers
- Financial Data Servers
- Healthcare Servers
Everyday a new server classification emerges. The reasons for the ever-expanding number of server classifications are many. These include laws and regulations, technology innovations, very intense target marketing, and the ultimate force, cloud cost control and performance. Performance factors such as data processing time, storage costs, edge localization latency time, green power constraints and data security have resulted in new servers, that is application specific servers that are geared towards specific computational, communications and data storage market requirements.
