  We use gauge/gravity duality to study the thermodynamics of a generic almost
conformal theory, specified by its beta function. Three different phases are
identified, a high temperature phase of massless partons, an intermediate
quasi-conformal phase and a low temperature confining phase. The limit of a
theory with infrared fixed point, in which the coupling does not run to
infinity, is also studied. The transitions between the phases are of first
order or continuous, depending on the parameters of the beta function. The
results presented follow from gauge/gravity duality; no specific boundary
theory is assumed, only its beta function.
