Windows Passes Unix In Server Market

Spending for Windows servers passed that for Unix servers in the fourth quarter of 2005, as Windows passed the venerable operating system in the global market for the first time.

The IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker reported on the latest trend in server spending. That market was worth $14.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005, which was a 0.2 percent drop year over year.

In the server market, the operating system race had Windows, Unix, and Linux as the leading choices of IT departments for all of 2005. Not only was this the first time Windows topped Unix in the server market, but the first time Linux moved into third place in worldwide spending on servers.

IDC commented on the three platforms and their performance:

…for the first time the Windows server segment modestly exceeded spending for Unix servers as customers deployed more fully configured Windows servers in support of scalable enterprise workloads and server virtualization projects.

For the full year, Linux server revenues were $5.7 billion, placing it in third place for the first time from an operating system perspective as customers continued to expand the role of Linux servers into an increasingly wider array of commercial and technical workloads.
“IDC continues to see end users utilizing a mix of operating systems in their infrastructures,” IDC vp of Worldwide Server research Jean S. Bozman said in the statement. “Each platform offers its own advantages in terms of workloads and customer preferences, and there is substantial overlap in terms of ISV applications that run on many of these server platforms.

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David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.