IDC`s new study, Server Workloads 2000 - Understanding Server Deployment, reveals surprisingly similar workload patterns between Windows NT and Linux. Slightly more than 60% of NT spending and nearly 55% of Linux spending were for infrastructure and collaborative workloads.
"When building new business strategies, it`s critical for server vendors to understand the opportunities available in the server marketplace with respect to workloads," said Matt Eastwood, an IDC Commercial Systems and Servers program research manager.
IDC reports that infrastructure functions overall account for 29.3% of worldwide spending for servers and in the near future will continue to drive many server sales. Application development was also high in 1999, owing to the early development efforts on Linux and Y2K projects on other platforms.
The past few years, IDC has identified a trend where server products are positioned by vendors to provide specific solutions for customers. These solution-based servers offer an optimized combination of server hardware, operating system, and application software.
Study Findings:
NT has the highest relative proportion of collaborative computing.
Unix servers continue their movement into the traditional mainframe market.
Linux server purchases are strongly tied to the Internet.
"In a commoditized server market, it becomes increasingly difficult to differentiate products based purely on performance. The Workloads 2000 multiclient study provides unique insight into the market allowing vendors to position their products most appropriately, said Michelle Bailey, a research manager in IDC`s Commercial Systems and Servers program.
This new study analyzes the server workload opportunities for hardware vendors for 2000-2004. The study examines server deployment by revenues and shipments in the United States, Western Europe, Asia/Pacific, and Japan.
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