Beaverton, OR – October 16, 2009 – Even in the face of a global recession, enterprise data centers are still looking to expand their numbers of Unix systems, according research from Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG). The number of respondents who said that their overall Unix usage would increase in the coming year was 68%, and 91% said that Unix systems were strategic in their organization.

These results are from GCG’s fourth annual Unix Vendor Preference Survey, which covers a wide range of topics including server usage, virtualization trends, data center challenges, and overall perceptions of the three major Unix vendors. All participants are real-world IT workers – data center personnel, IT managers, system administrators, and system architects – who work with Unix systems on a daily basis. Respondents manage anywhere from 10 – 250+ servers in organizations ranging from SMBs to enterprises of 10,000 or more. GCG surveys are not sponsored by any vendor or industry organization.

Other highlights from the 2008-2009 survey:

  • Unix usage is declining on the low end, as workloads on these systems continue to move to Windows/Linux operating systems; however, 61% of respondents reported interest in using blades to run smaller Unix o/s instances.
  • Almost 2/3 of respondents expected to purchase Unix systems in the future that are larger than the systems they currently run.
  • On the Unix vendor front, IBM and HP were virtually tied overall, each scoring wins in key technology and customer support categories.
  • IBM’s biggest wins were in “Raw System Performance,” “Processor Performance,” and “Overall Technology.”
  • HP topped competitors by a wide margin on the “System Management Suite,” “Real World Manageability,” and “Best Initial Quality” categories.
  • Sun Microsystems trails IBM and HP on most measures, perhaps due to the turmoil surrounding its future during the survey period.

“The first thing to note is that the market for Unix systems, albeit smaller than before, is still healthy. Customers, particularly those with large data centers, see these systems as mission-critical and won’t be moving away from them anytime soon,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “On the vendor side, it was a dogfight between IBM and HP, with one or the other winning almost every category.”

Other survey results showed that customers were virtualizing workloads on their Unix systems, with almost 70% reporting that they had virtualized the majority of their Unix workloads. Survey respondents say it lets them improve service levels while lowering costs.

The survey was conducted during 4Q08/1Q09 among 266 enterprise data center respondents. More than 75% of participants currently work with Unix systems from two or more vendors. The company will post research reports discussing major trends and detailed vendor results in the coming weeks.

Gabriel Consulting Group is a research, analysis, and consulting firm dedicated to helping our clients achieve maximum return on their Information Technology investment. We provide pragmatic consulting services, industry analysis, and custom research designed to help our clients reach their business goals through efficient and effective use of Information Technology. GCG was founded in 2001 by Dan Olds and is based in Beaverton, Oregon.

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For more information contact: Gabriel Consulting Group, 12570 SW Harlequin Drive, Beaverton, Oregon 97007

(503) 372-9389

gcginfo@gabrielconsultinggroup.com

 

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