Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of 2011 Data Center Security Survey

Distrust of Public Clouds Remains; Impact of Breaches Significant; Tips from the Trenches

BEAVERTON, Oregon – October 3, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings of its 2011 Data Center Security Survey, a report focused on security issues and solutions among 147 enterprise data center managers responsible for data centers of all sizes.

When asked about the security implications of virtualization and cloud computing, respondents reported the following:

• A large majority are using the same tools to secure both physical and virtualized systems.
• Most respondents (close to 60%) think that private clouds can be kept secure.
• Public clouds are a concern; about 70% say that security issues prevent their utilization.

“It’s important to differentiate between public and private clouds when talking about IT security,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “The majority of our respondents don’t think they’ll have any problem securing their internal private clouds. But they’re highly skeptical of public clouds from a security perspective. They’re just not convinced that public clouds can provide the same level of security as they can in their own data centers.”

Customers were also asked about the security breaches they’ve experienced. The survey found:

• The majority of breaches were caused by outsiders.
• Breaches caused ‘moderate’ to ‘large’ amounts of lost productivity for 80% of data center staffs.
• About 40% reported that breach remediation efforts required 50% or more of their IT staffing and resources.
• Over 40% said that remediation efforts were completed in one week or less. But nearly as many said that their fixes took a month or longer.

“Security breaches hurt – that’s clear,” said Olds. “We found that the impact of a breach on a data center can be profound and long-lasting. Discovering, assessing, and remediating breaches sucks up a lot of data center resources over a significant period of time. Breaches also damage the reputation of the data center within the organization and the morale of the IT staff. We had respondents say that security problems were an ongoing source of stress and guilt for themselves and their co-workers.”

What did survey respondents believe would improve their data center security?

• More clearly defined security standards and policies: 44% of respondents said this would help.
• Integrate security deeply into new IT projects from the very beginning: 60% said that their organizations don’t do this adequately.
• Make security a higher priority: 70% said this would benefit their organizations.

“It’s clear that data center security isn’t perfect; a quick look at the headlines confirms this,” said Olds. “Most of the organizations have a centralized security department that sets policies and standards. This is an improvement over the days when each business unit had its own security apparatus, but it’s not as effective as it could be, according to our survey respondents. Almost two out of three say that their organization isn’t baking security into new projects, and almost three-quarters say that their organization needs to make security a higher priority. ”

GCG is also releasing findings from other sections of the 2011 Data Center Security Survey. More information and detailed results are available here. Connect with Dan Olds and GCG on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

503-372-9389 Office

503-730-5072 Mobile

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Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of 2011 Data Center Security Survey

Requirements Not Met in Many Organizations; Management in the Dark

BEAVERTON, Oregon – October 3, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings of its 2011 Data Center Security Survey, a report focused on security issues and solutions among 147 enterprise data center managers responsible for data centers of all sizes.

Results from the “Approach and Philosophy” section of the survey include:

• Only 60% of respondents said that their organization has a clear set of security standards that are logical, understandable, and easy to follow.
• Most respondents’ organizations have centralized their IT security functions.
  • Customers with centralized security did not necessarily report better security guidance than those without centralized security.
• A surprising number, 40%, said that their day-to-day security does not conform to the standards required by their official policies.

Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG, said, “It’s quite a surprise to see 40% of respondents say that their day-to-day security doesn’t line up with what’s required by their policies. In the qualitative remarks, they tell us that some of their security mechanisms are cumbersome, and that they prevent them from servicing their customers. So they lower security walls or put in workarounds to let them bypass security – and these are exactly the weaknesses that hackers look for and exploit routinely.”

Customers were also asked about the current state of their IT security.  On these topics, the survey found that:

• Only half of respondents said their security is stronger now than ever before.
• Almost half reported that they are constantly finding new security holes.
• Given the statement, “Our security isn’t keeping pace with threats,” 42% agreed and 44% disagreed.
• Fully 60% said that their management thinks security is stronger than it really is.
  • Only 22% reported that management knows the true security (or insecurity) status of the enterprise.

“It’s astounding that almost two-thirds of our respondents say that their management is in the dark about their true security status,” said Olds. “This is something that should cause a lot of thought in both the executive suite and the data center. Management needs to seek out the truth when it comes to IT security, and data center management needs to be frank and honest when discussing the strengths and weaknesses of their security mechanisms. Obviously, it’s far better to discuss potential security issues before they’re exposed by a breach.”

GCG is also releasing findings from other sections of the 2011 Data Center Security Survey. More information and detailed results are available here. Connect with Dan Olds and GCG on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

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Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Research

IT Pros Judge Major Vendors on Technology, Support, and Customer Satisfaction Criteria

BEAVERTON, Oregon – June 22, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings of its fifth annual 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey, a report focused on vendor selection trends among 306 enterprise data center managers responsible for data centers of all sizes.

In the “Vendor Face-Off” section of the survey, Unix customers compared the three major vendors, HP, IBM, and Oracle, in the following categories:

• Performance
• Technology and Roadmaps
• O/S Quality, Security, and Maintenance
• Systems Management, Set-Up, and Integration
• Services

Customers identified strengths and weaknesses among all three companies. Some of the “wins” for each vendor include:

HP:

• Best Systems Management Suite
• Best Real-World Manageability
• Best Professional Services Quality

IBM:

• Best Overall Technological Capability
• Best Partitioning & Virtualization Features
• Best Raw System Performance

Oracle:

• Easiest Integration Into Heterogeneous Data Centers
• Best Operating System Features
• Greatest Desire to Drive Unix Innovation

“It’s important to note that there isn’t any overall ‘winner’ on these surveys. Customers have unique needs, and they’ll give some factors more weight than others,” said Dan Olds, GCG Principal Analyst. “In this edition of the survey, we again see IBM and HP taking first or second in the majority of categories. IBM dominates the system performance topics along with the overall technology and technical roadmap areas. HP topped both IBM and Oracle on the systems management, real-world manageability, and service categories. Oracle had a few wins but finished behind HP and IBM in most areas.”

GCG is also releasing findings from other sections of the 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey. More information and detailed results are available here. Connect with Dan Olds and GCG on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

503-372-9389 Office

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Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Research

Survey Respondents See Role for both Unix and Linux in the Data Center

BEAVERTON, Oregon – June 21, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings of its fifth annual 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey, a report focused on vendor selection trends among 306 enterprise data center managers responsible for data centers of all sizes.

One section of the survey was directed at IT customers who use both Unix and Linux in their data centers. Respondents compared the platforms on technology and support issues. Key results from this section include:

• Almost 60% of customers who use both commercial Unix and Linux said that commercial Unix is a better choice for some workloads. About the same number said that Linux is not at the same technical level as Unix.
• Just over half said that Unix operating systems are more available and reliable than Linux.
• About the same number agreed with the statement, “Unix offers higher performance and throughput vs. Linux.”
• Just under one-fourth of respondents said that Linux support is as good as that offered by Unix vendors. Another one-fourth were not sure.

“Enterprise customers who have both commercial Unix and Linux see value in both systems. While they’re increasingly relying on Linux, they don’t see it as a complete substitute for commercial Unix systems at this point,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “They see commercial Unix platforms as a bit better choice for mission critical workloads, particularly those that require vertical scalability combined with high availability. These are also customers who see a lot of value in vendor support, and on this score they believe that the commercial Unix vendors have more to offer than what they can get with Linux.”

The survey also asked customers about their future Unix and Linux usage plans. On these questions, the survey found that:

• A large majority (76%) of customers said they will be using commercial Unix systems 5+ years from now. Only 5% ‘strongly disagreed’ with that statement.
• Almost as many commercial Unix customers (65%) said they have no plans to migrate away from the platform. 17% said they weren’t sure, and an additional 17% said they probably would be leaving the platform.

“We don’t see any wholesale move away from the commercial Unix platform in the near future,” said Olds. “Just as the rise of Unix didn’t eliminate mainframes, the rise of Linux isn’t eliminating commercial Unix. There are reasons why customers use these systems and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”

GCG is also releasing findings from other sections of the 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey. More information and detailed results are available here. Connect with Dan Olds and GCG on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

503-372-9389 Office

503-730-5072 Mobile

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Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Research

What Buying Criteria Matter Most to IT Customers? Do They See Differences Among the Major Vendors?

BEAVERTON, Oregon – June 21, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings of its fifth annual 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey, a report focused on vendor selection trends among 306 enterprise data center managers responsible for data centers of all sizes.

In the ‘Buying Criteria’ section of the survey, IT customers were given nine factors to rank in order of importance. Key findings include:

• The number one enterprise Unix buying criteria was ‘Availability and Stability.’  Only 1% of respondents said this was ‘Less Important’ to them.

• Rounding out the top four choices were:
  • ‘Operating System Quality’
  • ‘Predictable Performance’
  • ‘Vendor Support’

• Less than 20% of customers said ‘Acquisition Price’ was the most crucial factor in their buying decision.
• The last-place choice was ‘We already know the systems.’

“Not surprisingly, system availability and stability was number one with a bullet on the commercial Unix buyer wish list. More than 93% rated it as their key or most important buying criteria,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “This, and the other factors right behind it, really point out the role that commercial Unix systems now play in modern data centers. These are the ‘big iron’ boxes that have to scale, and can’t go down when under a heavy load.”

For each of the above buying criteria factors, survey respondents were asked whether they see much distinction between the major vendors.

• Over half said there is a ‘significant’ or ‘huge’ difference between vendors in ‘Acquisition Price,’ a buying factor they had ranked as relatively unimportant.
• Other factors noted for vendor differentiation were:
  • ‘We know the systems – no learning curve’
  • ‘Virtualization Capability and Tools’
  • ‘Vendor Support’

• ‘Predictable Performance’ was the factor on which customers saw the least contrast between vendors; 70% saw ‘some’ or ‘no’ difference.

“We saw some very interesting results in this section of the survey. For example, customers believe that there are great differences between the major commercial Unix vendors in terms of acquisition price,” said Olds. “They also believe that there are considerable differences between different Unix brands, although they also say that these differences don’t present any problem for them, and aren’t factored much into their buying decisions. The also see a fair amount of difference in virtualization and the quality of vendor support.”

GCG is also releasing findings from other sections of the 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey. More information and detailed results are available here. Connect with Dan Olds and GCG on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

503-372-9389 Office

503-730-5072 Mobile

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Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Research

Overall Unix Usage Up in Enterprise IT Shops; Brand Diversity Rules

BEAVERTON, Oregon – June 20, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings of its fifth annual 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey, a report focused on vendor selection trends among 306 enterprise data center managers responsible for data centers of all sizes.

Key findings from the Unix server usage section of the survey include:

• Over 80% of enterprise customers surveyed said that half or more of their Unix workloads are mission-critical.
• Half of the respondents said that three-fourths of apps on their Unix systems are mission-critical.
• Almost 90% agreed with the statement, “Unix systems are strategic in our organization.”

“I think most people underestimate the importance of Unix-based systems in enterprise IT because Windows and Linux server sales are much higher and are growing faster,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “But these Unix systems fulfill a different role in most enterprises; they run mission-critical applications that are vital to the functioning of the business. Just because the sales of small, fuel-efficient cars are skyrocketing worldwide doesn’t mean that the need for dump trucks has gone away.”

The survey also asked customers which Unix operating systems they are currently using and whether they expect their usage to change over time. On these topics, the survey found that:

• Close to half of enterprise customers will use more Unix in the near future.
• A minority, 21%, are reducing their reliance on Unix. This number has steadily decreased since 2007.
• Only 20% of respondents said their data centers have standardized on one brand of Unix.

“Commercial Unix usage is pretty stable, with modest growth on the horizon. While some commercial Unix systems are still being replaced by x86-based Windows or Linux systems, the number of new Unix systems being installed is quite a bit greater than the number being taken offline,” said Olds. “The big three vendors – HP, IBM and Oracle – are constantly trying to entice customers into standardizing on their brand of Unix, but we still don’t see this having much effect. Most customers have at least two Unix brands in their data centers, and almost half have all three.”

GCG is also releasing findings from other sections of the 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey. More information and detailed results are available here. Connect with Dan Olds and GCG on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

503-372-9389 Office

503-730-5072 Mobile

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Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Research

Enterprise IT Customers See Diminishing Virtualization Returns; Concerns About the Cloud

BEAVERTON, Oregon – June 20, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings of its fifth annual 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey, a report focused on vendor selection trends among 306 enterprise data center managers responsible for data centers of all sizes.

Key findings from the ‘Virtualization’ section of the survey include:

• Nearly 70% of enterprise customers surveyed said that half or more of their Unix servers are running multiple workloads.
• A majority of customers, 71%, said they are seeing higher server utilization rates.
• Just over half said that virtualization is making it easier to meet their service level agreements.
• Fewer than half of Unix users said that virtualization has reduced their server management chores.

“Almost every customer using commercial Unix has adopted virtualization to some extent, and they’re seeing benefits from it,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “But we’re seeing some disturbing trends. As virtualization use and utilization rates rise, customers are saying that systems and workload management is becoming more difficult. Virtualized systems are supposed to make management and hitting SLAs easier – but that’s not happening today.”

The survey also asked customers whether they’re using cloud computing, and how the cloud might address their IT needs. On these topics, the survey found that:

• Less than one-third of enterprise Unix customers are using public clouds.
• Half of the respondents are currently building their own private cloud infrastructure.
• Half believe that the cloud will increase IT flexibility and speed; less than half believe it will significantly reduce IT costs.

“While cloud computing is getting a huge amount of press, the folks in the heart of the enterprise data center are taking it slow,” said Olds. “About half are building their own private clouds, mainly to increase their flexibility and speed. They’re a bit skeptical about public cloud computing reducing their overall IT costs.”

GCG is also releasing findings from other sections of the 2010-11 Unix Server Vendor Preference Survey. More information and detailed results are available here. Connect with Dan Olds and GCG on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

503-372-9389 Office

503-730-5072 Mobile

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Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of New Oracle Survey

Majority say opinion of Oracle has changed for the worse; negative view of company at 72%

BEAVERTON, Oregon – May 5, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released more key findings from its “What’s Up With Oracle?” survey, which is focused on Oracle’s recent decision to discontinue porting new versions of its software to Intel’s Itanium processor. The survey was conducted among enterprise IT professionals responsible for data centers of all sizes. There are 450 respondents; 94% are current Oracle customers.

Survey results released today cover the sections of the survey in which customers are asked whether their opinion of Oracle has changed over time, primarily since Oracle’s purchase of Sun Microsystems. On a question phrased, “Have any of Oracle’s recent actions or statements changed your opinion of the company? If so, how?” results include:

• 65% said that their opinion of Oracle has changed for the worse.

• 27% said their opinion is unchanged or hasn’t changed in a negative way; an additional 6% weren’t sure.

o   However, 20% of the ‘Opinion of Oracle unchanged’ group and 15% of the ‘Not sure’ group indicated in qualitative responses that their opinion of Oracle hasn’t changed because it’s always been negative, and that Oracle has continued to reinforce these beliefs.

• Overall, 72% expressed a negative view of Oracle.

“It’s normal for customers to “not like” or distrust their vendors to a certain extent. When a vendor is important to your business, it’s often a love-hate relationship,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “But the antipathy towards Oracle is way beyond that. Customers don’t believe that Oracle has their best interests at heart or cares about anything other than wringing maximum profits out of a captive installed base.”

Other questions in this section of the survey looked at customer satisfaction levels with major Oracle product lines. For each product, customers could select ‘Happy – not looking,’  ‘Not totally comfortable,’  ‘Evaluating alternatives,’ or ‘Definitely migrating away.’ Key survey results include:

• Half of customers using Oracle’s JD Edwards enterprise management software were happy with the package and not shopping for substitutes.
• 47% of PeopleSoft and 39% of Siebel customers were currently happy with those solutions.
• 38% of Oracle Applications users reported they weren’t looking, but 37% said they were either evaluating alternatives (28%) or in the process of migrating away (9%).
• On Oracle’s flagship database product, 39% were happy, but 32% were actively evaluating substitutes and an additional 7% have decided to drop the product.
• 51% of Oracle’s operating system customers (Solaris, Solaris64 and Oracle Enterprise Linux) said they either were looking at alternatives (25%) or have decided to drop these platforms (26%).

“The amount of weakness in Oracle’s mainline software products is troubling. We were expecting to see higher customer satisfaction numbers on their software products,” said Olds. “We weren’t surprised by the low ratings on their operating systems. Past and upcoming research we’ve conducted on the relative strength of major hardware vendors has shown us that Oracle’s hardware offerings, and Oracle as a hardware vendor, has a difficult time competing against Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell.”

The survey also found early indications that customers using Oracle software packages on Hewlett-Packard’s Itanium-based systems won’t be migrating those workloads onto Oracle-owned platforms. Virtually none of these respondents said they anticipated moving Oracle software onto a Solaris or Oracle Linux-based system.

According to Olds, “By dropping Itanium, Oracle might have thought that they could reasonably expect to see some of those workloads land on new Oracle hardware in the near future. From what we’re seeing, this just isn’t going to happen in any significant way. Right now, customers are almost universally rejecting that alternative, and many have indicated that they’re going to migrate away from Oracle – which is just the opposite of what Oracle wants to see coming out of this.”

GCG will be releasing more findings in the next few weeks. More information and detailed results are available here. Visit GCG on Facebook and 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.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

503-372-9389 Office

503-730-5072 Mobile

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Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of New Oracle Survey

Customers speak out on what they expect next from Oracle; will potential Oracle moves pay off?

BEAVERTON, Oregon – May 2, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released more key findings from its “What’s Up With Oracle?” survey, which is focused on Oracle’s recent decision to discontinue porting new versions of its software to Intel’s Itanium processor. The survey was conducted among enterprise IT professionals responsible for data centers of all sizes. There are 450 respondents; 94% are current Oracle customers.

Survey results released today cover the sections of the survey in which customers predicted Oracle’s strategic moves going forward and shared their opinions on how the company’s various options might harm or enhance its reputation. Results from the “What’s Oracle’s Next Move?” section include:

• An overwhelming 85% of customers surveyed believe that Oracle will “do everything possible to persuade/force customers onto all-Oracle solutions.”

• Customers doubt that Oracle will reverse course and port to Itanium again. Barely a quarter think they will, and nearly half think they won’t.
• Half of all survey participants believe that Oracle will eventually withdraw support for IBM’s Power Systems.
• Even more respondents (60%) say that Oracle will increase costs for RedHat and other non-Oracle Linux customers.
• Fewer respondents (37%) say that Oracle is likely to increase costs for Microsoft customers.

“We were surprised by the large number of customers who see Oracle pursuing a grand plan that’s designed to put Oracle’s system and o/s competitors at a competitive disadvantage,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “Customers quite clearly expect Oracle to pull out all the stops to use their power in software to give their hardware a leg up. They really see Oracle pushing hard to get customers to adopt all-Oracle infrastructures.”

In the “Will Oracle’s Strategy Pay Off?” section of the survey, customers responded, “Help Oracle” or “Hurt Oracle” to each item on a list of potential Oracle strategic moves. Results from this section include:

• General competitive moves not targeted at specific competitors, while not necessarily popular with the respondents, are seen as ultimately helping Oracle in the medium to long term.

o   Over 40% think it would benefit Oracle to release new versions of its software on its own platforms first.

o   Over 40% think adjusting license/support costs to gain an advantage over competitors would help Oracle.

o   The big exception in this category: “Do everything possible to persuade or force customers onto all-Oracle solutions” will hurt Oracle, according to more than half of all respondents.

• Competitive moves targeted at specific competitors are seen as damaging to Oracle by an overwhelming number of enterprise customers. Between 60% - 70% say that the following will hurt the company:

o   “Withdraw support for IBM’s POWER processor or AIX”

o   “Increase costs for RedHat or other non-Oracle Linux”

o   “Increase costs for Windows environments”

“It’s interesting that the general, untargeted moves are seen as somewhat helpful to Oracle, while potential actions that single out particular competitors are judged as ultimately harmful to Oracle,” said Olds. “We think that when respondents looked at the targeted actions, it made them think about the non-Oracle platforms in their own data centers and how the Oracle move might affect their own organizations.”

“The accompanying qualifying responses lead us to believe that customers perceive these moves as Oracle trying to force them into actions they don’t necessarily want to take. If Oracle goes down these roads, it’s going to be interesting to see if customers react in the way that Oracle desires.”

The “What’s Up With Oracle?” survey was conducted independently by Gabriel Consulting Group and not sponsored by any vendor or organization.

GCG will be releasing more findings in the next few weeks. More information and detailed results are available here. Visit GCG on Facebook and 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.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

503-372-9389 Office

503-730-5072 Mobile

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Gabriel Consulting Unveils Key Findings of New Oracle Survey

Enterprise Unix customers speak out about the company’s Itanium announcement

BEAVERTON, Oregon – April 25, 2011 -- Gabriel Consulting Group (GCG), an independent analyst firm, today released key findings from its “What’s Up With Oracle?” survey, which is focused on Oracle’s recent decision to discontinue porting new versions of their software to Intel’s Itanium processor. The survey was conducted among enterprise IT professionals responsible for data centers of all sizes and had 450 respondents.

Survey results released today cover the “Why Did Oracle Drop Itanium?” section of the survey, which asks customers what they believe were the real reasons behind Oracle’s move against HP and Intel. Results include:

• An overwhelming number of customers (77%) “Agree” or “Strongly Agree” that Oracle’s action is a “competitive move to kill HP’s HP-UX and NonStop products.”
• A slightly larger number (79%) see Oracle dropping Itanium as the “first step in an Oracle plan to put all competitors at a disadvantage vs. Oracle hardware products.”
• Only 10% of respondents disagreed with either of the above statements.

“Oracle is one of the most widely used and important ISVs in enterprise computing. Their database and application packages are mission-critical in many organizations, so they have a lot of power,” said Dan Olds, Principal Analyst at GCG. “With their Itanium decision, customers see Oracle using this power as a club against a competitor. They don’t view this as an isolated case, but as part of an Oracle strategy that will extend to other competitive products.”

Many enterprise customers also cited financial motivations. Almost two out of three believe that Oracle will now raise license and support costs for Itanium customers who don’t move their Oracle workloads to non-Itanium systems.

In explaining their decision, Oracle alleges that Intel told them that they will be end-of-lifing Itanium soon; Intel claims that they’re standing behind the processor for at least two more generations. We asked our respondents who they believe:

• Just 29% agreed with the statement, “I believe Oracle…” Almost half disagreed.
• Half agreed with the statement, “I believe Intel…” Only 16% disagreed.

“Customers just don’t buy Oracle’s version of the truth on the Itanium deal,” said Olds. “While they don’t universally believe Intel, the majority are taking Intel at its word in terms of Itanium. Customers always have a certain level of vendor distrust – it’s natural, and often merited. But with Oracle, it’s at a very high level right now. Further results from the survey make it clear that Oracle isn’t on many (if any) customer ‘Favorite IT Vendor’ lists right now.”

GCG will be releasing more findings from its “What’s Up With Oracle?” survey in the next few weeks. 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.

###

Contact: Dan Olds

503-372-9389 Office

503-730-5072 Mobile

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