BEAVERTON, Ore., Dec. 12, 2006 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG) announced today that IBM is the leading vendor according to UNIX customers, according to a newly published IT industry research study conducted by the firm. GCG's 4th Quarter UNIX Vendor Preference Survey queried 277 enterprise UNIX customers about their experiences with and perceptions of the major system vendors on a wide range of criteria. IBM notched wins in both technology and vendor support survey categories.
"IBM topped the survey again this year, winning most categories, but their lead was a bit narrower than last year," said Dan Olds, GCG Principal Analyst and CEO. "The real surprise is that Sun surpassed HP to finish a strong second. Last year, Sun was well behind both HP and IBM overall and in most categories. This year, they definitely win our 'Most Improved UNIX Vendor' award."
Although the survey is a snapshot of current customer attitudes and perceptions, Olds believes it is also a predictor of future sales trends and momentum shifts in the industry.
Survey responses were normalized to remove vendor bias from the results. The normalized VPI (Vendor Preference Index) scores are then used to rank the vendors. The survey consists of three categories:
-- Technology Criteria: 15 separate categories covering system
performance, scalability, availability, etc.
* IBM was on top with an average VPI score of 99.92 vs. 87.33 for
Sun; HP at 77.29 trailed.
* IBM built this win with strong scores on overall technology,
operating system, and server virtualization criteria.
* Sun scored well on system management, scalability, and best
initial quality categories.
* HP did well on operating system categories, but finished second
or third in every Technology Criteria category.
-- Vendor Criteria: 11 separate categories including quality of
service and sales organizations, vendor adherence to roadmaps,
vendor track record on keeping promises, etc.
* IBM takes first with an overall VPI score of 91.70; Sun is second
at 82.98, with HP third at 78.66.
* IBM posted wins in service and sales categories, also scoring
strongly with customers on issues dealing with reducing customer
costs and increasing efficiency.
* Sun won Commitment to UNIX and UNIX Innovation categories.
* HP narrowly won the "Keeps Their Promises" category with a VPI
score of 88.61 vs. 86.25 for IBM, and 66.67 for Sun.
-- Futures
* 42.44% of respondents believed IBM would be the dominant UNIX
vendor in 2011, vs. 33.61% for Sun and 23.95% for HP.
The survey was conducted in October and November of 2006. The median survey respondent controls 25-50 UNIX servers and works in an organization with 4,000 to 10,000 total employees. 76 percent of respondents work in data centers that have at least two different UNIX vendors, while 38 percent report that their data centers have three or more UNIX vendors.
GCG plans to run the survey at least annually in order to track trends and spot changes in market momentum. GCG also conducts a similar survey covering the Intel/AMD server market.
About Gabriel Consulting Group
Gabriel Consulting Group provides technology research, analysis, and consulting services to a wide variety of business and non-profit organizations.