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

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Beaverton, OR – April 17, 2008 – Enterprise customers see the Unix server market as almost dead heat between IBM and Hewlett-Packard, narrowly favoring IBM over HP on technology factors but slightly preferring HP on system quality and data center fit and finish, according to a new survey conducted by Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG). Sun Microsystems placed a reasonably close third.

This is the closest finish yet in GCG’s semiannual Unix Vendor Preference Survey, which grills real-world IT workers – data center personnel, IT managers, system administrators, and system architects – on a wide array of questions designed to assess their perceptions of vendor offerings and support as well as special issues such as power/ cooling, virtualization, IT trends, and future purchasing plans.

Some highlights from the 4Q’07 Unix Vendor Preference Survey:

· IBM won 14 categories and tied five, with their strongest finish in performance-based categories, including “Overall Technology”, “Raw System Performance”, and “Processor Performance”

· HP won 10 categories and tied five, surpassing IBM and Sun on ”Easiest Integration”, “Best Initial Quality”, “Observed Performance”, and “Operating System Quality” categories.

· Sun was chosen as the vendor most committed to Unix, and as having the greatest ability and desire to drive Unix innovation.

· All three vendors were competitive on operating system features and quality.

· HP and IBM finished in a virtual tie on “Best at Helping Lower TCO” and “Best at Helping Increase IT Efficiency.”

The Unix market is very large, but its growth is modest, sparking fierce vendor competition. “All three vendors are on top of their game right now, with recent new product and o/s releases.” Said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group. “IBM still rules the roost on Unix technology and performance measures, but HP made a huge improvement over the past year to pull into a close second place finish on technology, and a photo-finish win on customer support criteria.”

There’s also some good news for Sun Microsystems in the survey, according to Olds “While Sun finished a reasonably close third in the Vendor-Face Off section of the survey, they topped HP and IBM on several other important survey categories, including energy efficiency, and customer loyalty questions.”

The survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2007 among 290 enterprise data center respondents who work with systems on a daily basis.

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 www.GabrielConsultingGroup.com

Beaverton, OR – November 19, 2007 – As server vendors increasingly pitch the ‘green’ attributes of their systems, customers are listening and evaluating the competing claims. In a recent survey by Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), customers rated Hewlett Packard and IBM ahead of competitors in terms of how well their systems utilized energy and data center floor space.

GCG’s semiannual x86 Server Vendor Preference Survey poses a comprehensive battery of questions to hands-on IT customers that shed light on their perceptions about vendor offerings and services. These data center managers, architects, and administrators also address particular issues such as virtualization, purchasing plans, and IT trends.

Highlights from the ‘x86 Vendor Power/ Cooling/ Floorspace Report Card’ section of the survey: 

• 23% of survey respondents rated HP x86 systems most energy efficient, with IBM at 20%, Sun Microsystems at 19%, and Dell garnering 17% of the vote.
• IBM and HP tied at 22% for most thermal efficient systems. Sun and Dell trailed at 16% and 11% respectively.
• HP also notched a win in best utilization of server room floor space with 25% of the vote. IBM grabbed second place with 19%, Sun third at 16%, and Dell fourth at 12%.
• IBM took top honors in power monitoring and management, data center design and advisory services, and was rated as the vendor best able to improve facilities utilization in future products.

Beaverton, OR – November 19, 2007 – Recent industry focus on the need to ‘go green’ isn’t just hype; a solid majority of x86 data center personnel are highly concerned about energy consumption, cooling capacity, and floor space, according to a survey conducted by Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG). 

GCG’s semiannual x86 Server Vendor Preference Survey poses a comprehensive battery of questions to hands-on IT customers that shed light on their perceptions about vendor offerings and services. These data center managers, architects, and administrators also address particular issues such as virtualization, purchasing plans, and IT trends.

Some highlights from the ‘Power/ Cooling/ Floorspace’ section of the survey:

• 30% of survey respondents report that they are rapidly running out of electrical capacity.
• Nearly 1/3 say that cooling capacity has become a major concern for them.
• Data center floor space is the most critical issue of all; 42% are “rapidly running out.”
• More than 55% of survey respondents report that their server purchases are “heavily influenced” by power, cooling, and floor space concerns.

Beaverton, OR – November 9, 2007 – Enterprise customers purchasing  x86-based servers will be buying larger systems in the future, according to a survey conducted by Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG). 

Some highlights from the ‘Buying Trends’ section of the survey:

·         Almost half of the survey participants indicated that they will be buying ‘fewer’ or ‘many fewer’ single-socket servers; only 8% plan to purchase ‘more’ or ‘many more’.

·         About 75% of respondents will continue or increase their purchases of multi-processor servers.

o        75% plan to purchase dual-socket systems in the near future;

o        72% say that quad-socket systems are in their near-term plans;

o        64% indicate that they will be purchasing or strongly considering greater-than-four-socket x86 servers in the near future.

Beaverton, OR – November 9, 2007 – Intel brand server processors enjoy higher levels of loyalty among enterprise x86 customers than rival AMD, although system purchases are largely influenced by vendor brand and other non-processor factors, according to a survey conducted by Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG).

Beaverton, OR – October 1, 2007 – Enterprise customers see the x86 server market as a two-horse race between IBM and Hewlett-Packard, narrowly favoring IBM over HP on x86 server technology, but preferring HP on product quality and customer support criteria, according to a survey conducted by Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG). The two other major x86 server vendors, Sun Microsystems and Dell Inc., placed third and fourth respectively.

Beaverton, Oregon - December 12, 2006 – Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG) announced today that IBM (IBM) is the leading vendor according to UNIX customers, according to a newly published IT industry research study by 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.

Beaverton, Oregon - June 20, 2006 – Enterprise x86 server customers narrowly favor IBM over HP, according to IT industry analyst firm Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG) in a newly published research study. GCG’s 1st Quarter 2006 x86 Server Vendor Preference Survey queried 212 enterprise customers about their experiences with and perceptions of the major system vendors on a wide range of criteria. IBM notched wins in technology, performance and service categories while HP led on reliability, availability and manageability criteria. Sun Microsystems, with their line of Opteron servers, finished in 3rd place and Dell, one of the largest x86 server vendors, came in last.