Server revenues are down by -3.7% Y-o-Y to €4.6 billion, IDC reports-- a first negative euro growth in the past 8 quarters. Shipments are also down as they reach 52000 units, a -3.6% Y-o-Y decline.

Looking into the EMEA market in terms of product detail, custom multinode units are the "standout contributor" with shipment growth reaching 53.5% Y-o-Y and revenues increasing by 89% Y-o-Y. Dell and ODM Direct perform strongly in the product segment, as does recent entrant Lenovo, whose objective is clearly the penetration of the hyperscale market.

Cisco sets to further enhance its networking might with the $2.6 billion acquisition of Acacia Communications, a manufacturer of high-speed coherent optical interconnect technologies.

Already an existing Cisco supplier, Acacia should boost the Cisco software and networking portfolio, as well as help service providers and datacentre operators handle exponentially growing data demand. Cisco adds the technology will help customers transition from chassis-based systems to pluggable technology, simplifying operations and reducing network complexities.

Acacia technology is based on coherent optics, with applications including algorithm development, ASIC design and verification for the Digital Signal Processing (DSP), RF design and module packaging/ integration. In addition, the company uses silicon photonics for the integration of multiple photonic functions for coherent optics, increasing the density and reducing the cost of the technology.

Platinum Tools announces the PoE+ 10Gig Shielded RJ45 Field Plug (p/n 106250), a Field Plug able to optimise data throughput to PoE+ powered devices compatible with a wide range of large cables with large conductors.

According to the company, the cast-metal shell provides end-to-end shielding from extraneous noise interference in high bandwidth applications. It requires no special crimp tool, is compliant with HDBaseT and PoE+, and compatible with S/FTP or F/FTP Shielding, Stranded or Solid, 26AWG–23AWG wires.

Global converged systems revenues are up by 19.3% Y-o-Y to reach $3.75 billion in Q1 2019, IDC reports, with hyperconverged infrastructure as primary growth driver as customers continue looking for reduced operating complexity and ease of deployment.

According to the analyst, hyperconverged systems include Disaggregated HCI (hyperconverged infrastructure). An example of such systems is the NetApp HCI solution offering non-linear scaling of the hyperconverged cluster, making it easier to scale compute and storage resources independent of each other while offering critical functions such as quality of services. In disaggregated HCI solution the storage nodes might not have a hypervisor, since they do not run VMs or applications.

IDC splits the converged systems market in 3 segments-- certified reference systems & integrated infrastructure, integrated platforms and hyperconverged systems. The certified reference systems & integrated infrastructure market sees Q1 2019 revenues worth $1.4bn, a 9% Y-o-Y increase and 36.6% of total converged system revenue. Integrate platform revenues are down by -13.3% Y-o-Y to $556m, 14.8% of total converged systems market revenues. Hyperconverged systems sales are up by 46.7% Y-o-Y to $1.8bn, making 48.6% of the total market.