Sales of x86 servers are taking off like a shot, RISC is shriveling up, and prices are still dropping as IT buyers snap up less-expensive servers.

After a year of free-falling, server hardware sales are finally starting to rebound. While the numbers are good now, the industry is coming off a drop in sales in previous quarters. Which parts of the server industry are headed in the right direction?

After a year of spiraling toward the ground, server sales may be pulling out of the dive, with x86 servers leading the pack. Revenue continued to fall, yet it's still progress.

The benchmarking standards group has added per-watt rating to how it measures server transactions.

Virtually Speaking: Two sets of survey results released this week point to security as the next major hurdle for virtualization.

New chips from the two competitors have given customers a reason to start buying again.

While year-over-year continues to look grim, quarter-to-quarter shows signs of improvement.

Virtually Speaking: With the OS and hypervisor converging, the phrase 'heterogeneous data center' may soon have new meaning.

Along with the rest of tech, server vendors took a pounding.

The latest report from IDC shows Unix servers with more staying power than low-end x86 servers as the global economic crisis hits the once-thriving server business.

According to the latest survey from Netcraft, during the month of January, Apache HTTP open source web server gained 1.27 million sites while Microsoft's IIS lost 2 million.

Despite penetration levels remaining flat, Apache and Microsoft continue to dominate the Web server market. The Web continues its growth trajectory, however, with new Web server options in the driver's seat.

OS Roundup: How rational are the choices we make about the operating systems we run?

Servers, especially those with x86 architectures, are getting cheaper, which means enterprises can afford to buy more.

Dell and IBM renewed their server efforts, while Sun struggled and HP hummed along.

IBM's research shows virtualization adoption is helping to bring Linux to the high-end.

Once again, the Web continues to grow, and Apache and Microsoft continue to dominate, even as new Web server options snuff out more-venerable options.

Worldwide enterprise storage costs are predicted to spike to more than $2 billion by 2009, according to IDC. Part of the reason: storage infrastructure.

Despite widespread predictions that virtualization and a souring economy would dent the server market, growing revenue suggests otherwise.

Even with virtualization on the rise and an economic slowdown, the need for server capacity continues its unabated growth.

Is virtualization recession-proof?

A new survey from the Yankee Group reveals some telling information about the reliability of Linux, Unix, and Windows servers. Hint: Redmond isn't going to be happy.

Security Space's Web Server Survey breaks out Web server software usage on the Internet for 86 domains. Data for the March survey was gathered from responses received from 28.1 million Web sites. Once again, about 44 percent of these sites are .com domains.

Is it any surprise that the Web continues to grow? Apache and Microsoft continue to dominate, but will new Web server options coexist with or threaten these venerable favorites?

From quarter-over-quarter to year-over-year, server shipments and revenue grew in 2007. Zoom in closer and a more ragged landscape appears: While more x86 boxes shipped, fewer RISC systems left the factory. Economic uncertainty and the full impact of virtualization have also not yet entered the picture.