Despite all the hype, Barnett said there is still no real pricing model for this "concept" with vendors "making it up" as they go along.

"Vendors are quick to sell the automated, lights-out data center where a man and his dog are the only living thing," he said.

"But this ideal is still about two generations away as customers are still undertaking server consolidation."

Barnett said too often vendors "talk about the peak of Everest, but not the climb."

"It is the same with service oriented architecture (SOA), there are too many terms like ESB (enterprise service bus)," he said.