Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of 2010 x86 Server Vendor Research
Enterprise IT Shops Entrust Mission-Critical Apps to x86 and Predict Future O/S Usage
BEAVERTON, Oregon – Feb. 17, 2011 — Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings of its fourth annual 2010 x86 Server Vendor Preference survey, a report focused on vendor selection trends among 199 enterprise data center managers responsible for data centers of all sizes.
Key findings from the x86 server usage section of the survey include:
- Over 60% of enterprise customers surveyed said that more than half of their x86 workloads are mission-critical.
- More than half of all respondents said that their mission-critical x86 usage will increase in the coming year. Only 7% expect it to decline.
“x86 systems are becoming increasingly important in data centers of all sizes,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “We saw a pretty big jump in the numbers of customers who plan to use the x86 platform for mission-critical applications in the future. Some of this might be due to the fact that there are more small enterprises in this edition of the survey than last year, but even taking that into account, this trend is picking up steam.”
The survey also asked customers which x86 operating systems they are currently using and how they expect their usage to change over time. On these topics, the survey found that:
- Linux is used to some degree by 90% of GCG’s enterprise IT respondents, and the majority see their usage increasing significantly.
- Present use of Microsoft Server products is also heavy, but customers are divided on whether they’ll be increasing or decreasing their usage.
- The presence of Solaris x64 has declined since last year’s survey, and 40% of respondents said they’ll be using it less in the near future.
“The vast majority of data centers we surveyed are mixed Windows/Linux environments. We’ve seen a marked reduction in the number of Windows-only or Linux-only IT shops,” said Olds. “While Windows usage in the future looks to be holding steady or growing modestly, we see future Linux use climbing. At the same time, we see interest in Oracle’s Solaris x64 dropping considerably.”
GCG is also releasing findings from other sections of the 2010 x86 Server Vendor Preference survey. More information and detailed results are available here. Follow Dan Olds on Twitter @danolds.
About Gabriel Consulting Group
Gabriel Consulting Group is a research, analysis, and consulting firm dedicated to helping clients achieve maximum return on their Information Technology investment.
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Contact: Dan Olds
503-372-9389 Office
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gcginfo@GabrielConsultingGroup.com