IT consolidation market is expected to grow 6.5% from 2004 to 2009, from $18.1 bln to $24.7 bln, outpacing growth of the overall IT market, IDC found. Infrastructure software for consolidation is expected to grow 13.1% – more than twice the rate of the underlying IT consolidation market. Consolidation will play a significant role in driving server and storage sales. Server consolidation’s share of the overall server revenue is predicted to grow to 12.6% in 2009 (up from 9.5% in 2004). Similarly, the storage consolidation market is expected to grow to 17.3% (up from 13.9% in 2004). Consolidation growth will occur in heterogeneous environments: Linux, 14.4%; Windows, 9.8%; and UNIX, 1.2%. Linux represents an emerging growth opportunity for consolidation, particularly for servers and software (22.3% and 22.0%, respectively).