Laura DiDio

ITIC/Sunbelt Software survey: 80% of Users Give Windows 7 High Marks for Compatibility

ITIC Reports & Surveys / By

A new independent ITIC/Sunbelt Software survey of nearly 1,500 companies worldwide indicates 60% of respondents will deploy Windows 7. Nearly one-third of respondents — 30% — say they will migrate to the new Microsoft desktop operating system within the first six months while another 20% say they will upgrade within the year.

Among the other Survey Highlights:

• An overwhelming 80% majority of the survey respondents rated Windows 7 performance and applications compatibility with legacy applications “Excellent” or “Very Good.” See Exhibit 1.
• Approximately 11% of companies said they plan to wait until the first Service Pack ships before migrating.
• Of the 40% of respondents who had no definitive migration timetable, 25% cited satisfaction with their current Windows XP and Windows Vista desktops.
• Less than 2% of those polled said they were considering switching from Windows to another desktop OS.

The survey findings are a clear indication and validation that Microsoft’s efforts in locking down the Windows 7 code to ensure a high degree of backwards compatibility with existing and legacy hardware, software, applications and drivers, delivering a wide array of deployment tools, has been overwhelmingly successful.

To accomplish this Microsoft adopted a series of internal and external initiatives which are designed to deliver the highest degree of applications compatibility, thus ensuring a more straightforward and simplified migration Windows XP and Vista to Windows 7.

Internally, Microsoft made a concerted effort over the last two years to provide a wide array of online deployment tools and toolkits. Initiatives like the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) are proactive measures that specifically allow corporations and consumers to pre-determine, whether or not their applications and drivers will work with Windows 7. ACT and other tools also enable users to troubleshoot and find solutions for technical problems. The Redmond, Washington software giant is also offering a series of online and optional premium compatibility planning and evaluation services.

To complement the free online tools, Microsoft also initiated a broad and deep “Ecosystems Readiness Approach,” initiative. Microsoft proactively engages its OEM hardware vendors and independent software vendors (ISVs) worldwide by providing them with technical workshops to train them on various aspects of the Windows 7 platform to ensure compatibility. These workshops, which are being given in 40 countries, also offer Microsoft partners a channel with which to provide direct feedback on any compatibility issues that may crop up and serve as a powerful training tool.

These actions are exactly what Microsoft needed to do in order to provide its corporate and consumer customers with a high level of integration and interoperability with their legacy hardware, driver and software applications. The ultimate test will come over the next several months as users widely deploy Windows 7 in production networks. However, Windows 7 must still prove its mettle to the 40% of organizations — commerical and academic — as well as consumers who are still skeptical and leery of potential compatibility problems. Additionally, some cash-constrained organizations, say their firms lack the funds, to migrate to Windows 7. And 26% of the 40% of respondents with no definitive migration plans, indicate they’re content to remain on Windows XP or Windows Vista for the foreseeable future. Wooing this contingent may prove to be Microsoft’s biggest challenge.

The early indications, based on the survey data and first person interviews with beta users and early adopters, is that Microsoft’s full court press to ensure applications compatibility has paid off.

ITIC/Sunbelt Software survey: 80% of Users Give Windows 7 High Marks for Compatibility Read More »

Analysis: Citrix XenDesktop 4 Product and Positioning

2009, Laura's Insights ITIC Blog, News / By

Citrix today released XenDesktop™ 4, which it says is designed to “make virtual desktops a mainstream reality for hundreds of millions of corporate employees .” XenDesktop 4 incorporates a new FlexCast™ delivery technology that takes an agnostic approach, by supporting every major desktop virtualization model in a single, integrated solution. Citrix says this will result in improved ROI, simplified management and extends the benefits of virtualization to every employee in the enterprise. XenDesktop 4 further simplifies desktop computing by integrating all the capabilities of Citrix XenApp. This will allow businesses to deliver on-demand applications to physical or virtual desktops as a seamless part of their overall desktop strategy. To ensure every user gets a high-definition experience at all times, XenDesktop 4 also includes significant enhancements to its industry-leading HDX™ technology.

Another significant component of today’s announcement is that it solidifies and expands the Citrix and Microsoft partnership. The two companies compete in some areas, but in the broader sense they are united by a common goal: to overtake and trounce virtualization server market leader VMware. The Citrix/Microsoft partnership is a true alliance and one that will simplify and enhance the management of virtual desktops through Microsoft System Center. It also adds multiple enhancements that further extend the value of Microsoft Windows and Windows Server platforms. In total, XenDesktop 4 adds more than 70 new features, significantly enhancing its performance, security and readiness for large, enterprise-wide deployments.

Pricing and Availability
Citrix says XenDesktop 4 will be generally available beginning on November 16, 2009. It  will be licensed on a per user basis. This model allows each end user to use an unlimited number of connected or offline devices at no additional cost. XenDesktop 4 will be available in three editions with the following suggested list prices: 

  • Standard – $75 per user
  • Enterprise – $225 per user
  • Platinum –  $350 per user

ITIC ANALYSIS
Pros

Overall, Citrix’ today’s XenDesktop 4 product announcement as well as the company’s strategic focus on cloud computing, desktop virtualization, security, management and interoperability indicate that the company has a sound focus and is well positioned to compete with market leader VMware.

In addition, Citrix’ strong partnership with Microsoft gives the company visibility, access to Microsoft’s broad Windows customer base and deep channel. At the same time, Citrix’ XenServer also directly competes with Microsoft’s Hyper-V, a fact that company executives freely acknowledge. This might be more worrisome for Citrix were it not for the fact that the companies need each other to combat VMware, which has built up a substantial lead in the server virtualization space. In the spirit of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” the Citrix/Microsoft partnership will most likely remain that of a close healthy alliance with elements of friendly but spirited “co-opetition.”

Citrix’ other notable strengths are its’ leadership role in promoting Xen.org as an open source community virtualization standard and the breadth and depth of its add-on management and security products. The Xen.org initiative gives Citrix high visibility and credibility with the development community and the industry at large, which will stand it in good stead as it attempts to grow. The add-ons products should enable Citrix customers and partners to build end-to-end solutions that can be based entirely or partially on Citrix technologies.

Cons

Citrix’ as ambitions to be a top tier virtualization vendor means that it must be a top tier vendor in every sense of the word. And that means growing revenue. Light hearted jokes about the state of the economy aside, Templeton and the entire executive and product management team at Citrix understands this and freely acknowledged the fact at the Analyst Summit. Now the company must demonstrate that it can buck the trend by increasing both its sales and installed base. And Citrix must spike sales within the next six-to-nine months as enterprises begin to plan and budget for the next round of upgrades.

ITIC survey data indicates that Citrix is the market leader in the desktop virtualization space and is a close second in the applications virtualization market. Both of these markets are relatively small at present; only five to 10% of businesses worldwide have deployed desktop and application virtualization. So it’s too soon to declare any vendor a winner or clear market leader. Meanwhile, the desktop and application virtualization arenas have three strong contenders in Citrix, Microsoft and VMware. Market adoption in these segments will begin to ramp up strongly in 2010, when according to ITIC’s latest virtualization deployment survey close to 30% of corporations will begin virtualizing their desktops and applications. Clearly, these markets are stepping stones Citrix could use to establish itself in the potentially lucrative yet nascent cloud computing infrastructure market.

In order for Citrix to be a major cloud player, it must first solidify its current customer base and expand outside of its core client bailiwick. Citrix must also offer a cogent, compelling marketing strategy to complement and highlight its new product offerings. This will be challenging in the short term since Citrix does not yet possess the deep pockets of its larger rivals, VMware, Microsoft and Oracle. Citrix’ ace is its chief technology officer, Simon Crosby, who is a highly visible and regarded virtualization expert. Crosby is an indefatigable evangelist who never misses an opportunity to point out competitors’ flaws while promoting the Citrix brand.

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Citrix Launches New Desktop Virtualization Product Blitz

2009, Laura's Insights ITIC Blog, News / By

Citrix Systems laid out a broad, bold tactical product roadmap and showcased a solid, long term strategic vision at its Analyst Summit held in Denver on September 16-17.
Desktop virtualization, cloud computing, on-demand computing, self-service IT and expanding the company’s strategic vendor alliances and channel partnerships represent the key thrusts over the next six-to-12 months, according to Citrix president and chief executive, Mark Templeton.
All of the aforementioned initiatives will also be the focus of several, separate Citrix’ fall and winter product introductions. The first announcement is slated for later today.
Templeton delivered the keynote to the approximately 70 assembled analysts, stating that as Citrix celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, the company’s goal is “to stand out from the [virtualization] crowd and avoid the status quo.” Templeton, a 14-year Citrix veteran served up some encouraging company statistics noting that while revenue has been essentially flat over the past year – which he considers a positive in the ongoing economic downturn – Citrix’ business is growing in almost every other area (see chart below). “Flat [revenue] is the new growth,” Templeton joked, referring to the company’s 2009 first half revenue of $762 million.

Citrix Expands Product Portfolio

Templeton said that Citrix is moving to aggressively solidify its place as one of the top tier virtualization vendors – along with VMware and Microsoft – by growing the business both organically as well as by acquisitions. ITIC survey data indicates that the top three virtualization vendors: Citrix, Microsoft and VMware account for 90% market share – particularly in the server virtualization arena, where VMware is the clear market leader with over 50% share. In recent months, the more mature server virtualization market has seen a spate of mergers and acquisitions, most notably Oracle’s purchase of Sun Microsystems, Inc. and niche market player Virtual Iron.

Citrix’ own purchase of XenSource in October 2007 and its subsequent partnership with Microsoft to support the Redmond, Washington software firm’s Hyper-V product have given the company a strong foothold in the server arena. Additionally, the Citrix Xen virtualization technology is embedded in a variety of operating system platforms including the open source Debian Etch; Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 and 11; Red Hat’s Enterprise 5 and Oracle’s Sun Solaris. Dell also includes the Citrix XenServer OEM Edition as an embedded hypervisor as an option in its Power Edge Servers.

Most recently Citrix has notably bolstered its desktop and application virtualization product portfolio with the addition and enhancement of a number of key offerings including the NetScaler (Application Optimization, Application Delivery Networking, Load Balancing, Web Application Acceleration and Application Firewall).
Citrix is also exerting and extending its influence via the open source Xen.org community project, which Templeton said, now boasts more than 3,700 individual members; 250 contributing companies. Unique code contributions, he added increased 110% from 2008 to 2009. Central to the Xen.org strategy is the Xen Cloud project, which is an open source, open platform for cloud providers. It features broad interoperability among various competing hypervisors; broad industry support and serves as a platform for an overarching open source ecosystem, Templeton said.
Cloud computing is central to Citrix’ long term strategy and the company is building a wide array of desktop management and security add-ons to facilitate corporations’ migration to both private and public cloud infrastructures.
“Consumption based costs is becoming an imperative for users,” Templeton said. “If you’re not a leader in this area, it will kill you,” he added.
Citrix Ramps Up

Templeton noted that Citrix had spent $1.8 billion in acquisitions over the past 18-to-24 months, to bolster the company’s three business divisions: the Online Division; the Desktop Division and the Datacenter and Cloud Division.

In particular, Citrix intends to cement its position in the fast emerging desktop and application virtualization markets by highlighting the increasing trend towards self-service IT. According to Templeton, Citrix’ Software as a Service (SaaS) group is among the “fastest growing part of the company with over 100M online virtualization sessions” to its credit.

Templeton and Wes Wasson, the company’s Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) said Citrix’ Xen Desktop is the centerpiece of the company’s short term tactical and long term strategic plans and goals. “Desktop virtualization, Templeton and Wasson said, “can help take big chunks [reduce] the time spent on daily systems management chores” like patching and rolling out updates which consume an enormous amount of IT managers’ time.

“Our agenda is to offer the broadest set of virtualization technologies in the industry – separating desktops and applications from the physical server, to address the growing numbers of mobile, remote and telecommuting workers,” Templeton said. This is crucial he noted, because industry wide, IT spending remains flat in the low single digits. In contrast, “the velocity and amplitude of change” facing customers continues to accelerate.

“For many businesses the current infrastructure design is not suitable for the emerging dynamic business environment. Citrix is responding to market dynamics and market realities where the only constant is change,” Wasson said.

The Citrix executives said they recognize that in the current depressed economic climate, the balance of power has moved from vendors to customers. “No vendor will be successful with a lock-in strategy,” Wasson said. Hence, Citrix will continue to pursue a platform agnostic approach to ensure that its products will work in all operating system environments; the company also provides interoperability and integration with offerings from rival vendors like VMware. The company is also shoring up its partnerships with software vendors like Microsoft and Novell as well as hardware OEMs like Dell and Hewlett-Packard.

This strategy has helped Citrix garner new customer wins among large enterprises accounts. During the summit Citrix showcased corporate accounts such as Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Ga., which uses Citrix Delivery Center to cut costs by 60% for an anticipated operational savings of $1.5 million in 2009, according to Michael Thomason, Lead IT manager. Tesco, a British based international grocery chain and retailer said it replaced 1,500 traditional servers and consolidated using virtual blade servers and Citrix XenServer technology, according to Chris Brockelsby, the company’s lead IT Director.

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ITIC 2009-2010 Global Virtualization Deployment Trends Survey Results

ITIC Reports & Surveys / By

Server virtualization demand and deployments are strong and will remain so for the remainder of 2009 and through 2010, despite the ongoing economic downturn.

The results of the new, independent ITIC 2009 Global Server Virtualization Survey, which polled more than 700 corporations worldwide during May/June and August, reveal that server virtualization deployments have remained strong throughout the ongoing 2009 economic downturn. It also shows that the three market leaders Citrix, Microsoft and VMware, are consolidating their positions even as the virtualization arena itself consolidates through mergers, acquisitions and partnerships.

Microsoft in particular has made big year-over-year gains in deployments and market share. Thanks to the summer release of the new Hyper-V 2.0 with live migration capabilities  the Redmond, Washington software firm has substantially closed the feature/performance gap between itself and VMware’s ESX Server.  The technical advances of Hyper-V combined with the excellent conditions of Microsoft’s licensing program, make the company’s virtualization products very competitive and alluring. Three out of five — 59% of the survey respondents — indicated their intent to deploy Hyper-V 2.0 within the next 12 to 18 months.

Survey responses also show a groundswell of support for application and desktop virtualization deployments. These two market segments constitute a much smaller niche of deployments and installations compared to virtualized server environments. The survey results show that application virtualization (where Microsoft is the market leader) and desktop virtualization (in which Citrix is the market leader), are both poised for significant growth in the 2010 timeframe.

Another key survey revelation was that 40% of respondents, especially businesses with 500 or more end users, said they either have or plan to install virtualization products from multiple vendors. This will place more emphasis and importance on integration, interoperability, management and third-party add-on tools to support these more complex, heterogeneous virtualization environments.

Among the other key survey highlights:

  • The “Big Three,” Citrix, Microsoft and VMware, are bolstering their positions with a slew of new offerings and a plethora of partnerships due out in the 2009 summer and fall.
  • Partnerships and Alliances: The alliance between Citrix and Microsoft remains robust as these two firms believe that there’s strength in numbers, as they mount a challenge to server virtualization leader VMware’s continuing dominance.
  • Microsoft Hyper-V Closes the Gap: Microsoft made big year-over-year market share gains from 2008 to 2009. The survey data shows current Hyper-V usage at 32%; but 59% plan to adopt in next 12 to 18 months.
  • VMware remains the market leader in server virtualization with approximately 50% share among enterprise users; Microsoft follows with 26% share.
  • Microsoft is the current market leader in application virtualization with a 15% share; followed by Citrix with 11% and VMware with 7%. However, nearly two-thirds of businesses have not yet deployed application virtualization.
  • Citrix is the market leader in desktop virtualization with a 19% market share followed by Microsoft with 15% and VMware with 8%. But again, over 60% of corporations have not yet begun to virtualize their desktop environments.
  • Mergers and Acquisitions Raise Questions: There is confusion among the legacy Sun and Virtual Iron users as to what will happen to both the product lines and technical support in the wake of both firms’ acquisition by Oracle.
  • Apple Mac is a popular virtualization platform; nearly 30% of respondents said they use Mac hardware in conjunction with Windows operating systems to virtualize their server and desktop environments.
  • Parallels and VMware Fusion are the two leading Mac virtualization vendors with a near 50/50 split market share.
  • Time to Bargain: Despite budget cuts and reduced resources only a very small percentage of companies — 7% — have attempted to renegotiate their virtualization licensing contracts to get lower prices and better deals.
  • Server Virtualization Lowers TCO: Almost 50% of survey respondents reported that server virtualization lets them lower their total cost of ownership (TCO) and achieve faster return on investment (ROI); however, only 25% of businesses could quantify the actual monetary cost savings
  • Users Prefer Terra Firma Virtualization to Cloud: Users are moving slowly with respect to public cloud computing migrations, which are heavily dependent on virtualization technology. To date, only 14% of survey respondents said they will move their data to a virtualized public cloud within the next six-to-12 months.

This survey identifies the trends that propel or impede server, application and desktop virtualization deployments and to elucidate the timeframes in which corporations plan to virtualize their environments. ITIC advises all businesses, irrespective of size or vertical market to conduct due diligence to determine which virtualization solution or combination of products best meets their technical and business needs in advance of any migration. And in light of the ongoing economic downturn, businesses are well advised to negotiate hard with their vendors for the best deals and to ensure that the appropriate IT managers receive the necessary training and certification to ensure a smooth, trouble-free virtualization upgrade. This will enable the business to lower TCO, accelerate ROI and minimize and mitigate risk to an acceptable level.

ITIC 2009-2010 Global Virtualization Deployment Trends Survey Results Read More »

High Tech Financial Roundup: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2009, Laura's Insights ITIC Blog, News / By

The high technology earnings reports from the major vendors over the last several weeks have been decidedly mixed. Some companies notably beat expectations while other bellwether firms’ financials exhibited significant weaknesses.

Apple, IBM and Intel earnings were all in positive territory, beating Wall Street forecasts. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Advanced Micro Devices, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems (recently acquired by Oracle) and Yahoo all posted disappointing – albeit not totally unexpected – declining numbers.

Overall, the latest financial reports provide an interesting perspective on trends in the high technology sector for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010. The consumer sector led by Apple appears robust, while PC sales and the business software sector as evidenced by the contraction and sluggishness in Microsoft’s Windows and Office are weak. That softness will likely persist for the remainder of calendar 2009.

Apple was the biggest winner by far and the brightest star in the high technology firmament.

Apple financials beat all analysts’ expectations. For the 2009 third fiscal quarter ended June 30, Apple posted quarterly revenue of $8.34 billion and net profit of $1.23 billion; that’s a 12% year-over-year earnings increase and the strongest of any June quarter in Apple’s history, the company said. Apple’s strength was evident across the majority of its product segments. iPod sales remained brisk with 10.2 million sold in the just ended quarter, although that is an approximately eight percent decline from 11 million sold during the June 2008 third quarter. Apple and Wall Street analysts attributed the decrease to cannibalization by iPhone sales. However, iPod touch unit sales grew 130% from last year.

Apple sold 2.6 million Macs – a 4% unit increase from the year-ago quarter. Apple’s gross margin was 36.3%, up from 24.8% in the year-ago quarter. Apple also exhibited extremely good diversification, with international sales contributing to 44% of third quarter revenue.

IBM also posted earnings that surpassed Wall Street forecasts and that in turn, lifted Big Blue’s 2009 full-year profit forecast. IBM net earnings increased 12% to $3.1 billion, or $2.32 per share; that easily bested financial analysts’ per-share prediction of $2.02. IBM also got a boost from its ongoing cost cutting measures which helped to lift profits. However, IBM sales declined by 13% to $23.25 billion. In a published statement IBM said it expects to save $3.5 billion in cost cutting measures for 2009; that’s $500 million more this year than it had anticipated.

Intel’s third quarter financials offered a mixed picture. The world’s number one chipmaker had sales of $8.4 billion for the quarter even as it recorded a second-quarter net loss of $398 million, or 7 cents a share, compared to the $1.6 billion and 28 cents a share that Intel earned during the same period in 2008. This was Intel’s first quarterly loss since 1986. The red ink was attributable to charges associated with the $1.45 billion fine levied by the European Commission. In May the EC ruled that Intel abused its market position to cut its chief rival, AMD out of the European market. Intel said it will appeal, but meanwhile, the fines stand.

Intel’s better than expected sales figures buoyed analysts and industry observers because it occurred in spite of sluggish PC sales. One very encouraging note for Intel’s immediate and intermediate term is that its entry level Atom chip, which is used in the burgeoning Netbook minis, is not siphoning off Celeron processor revenues. The Celeron processors are used in the more inexpensive notebooks and there was some fear that the Atom chips would cannibalize a significant amount of Celeron revenue. Meanwhile, revenue from Atom processors and chipsets rose 65 percent from the 2009 first quarter to $362 million.

At the same time, the high tech sector suffered a blow when Microsoft announced the first annual sales loss in the company’s 34-year history. The news was not unexpected, still it cast a pall since Microsoft, the world’s number one software maker is an industry barometer.

For its fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30, Microsoft profits plunged 29 percent to $3.05 billion from the same quarter in 2008. Sales similarly declined by 17 percent during the fourth quarter to $13.10 billion. Microsoft said its poor fourth quarter numbers were attributable to the continuing weakness in the PC and server markets as well as the smaller software licensing fees it collects from the Netbooks.

Most worrisome was the fact that Microsoft experienced quarterly revenue declines in all five of its major business segments. Windows client revenue waned by 29 percent during the fourth quarter; that was $1 billion less than the client software group 2008 fourth quarter sales. And it provided yet another indicator that corporations stayed put on Windows XP, instead of migrating to Vista. quarter, representing a shortfall of more than $1 billion from the year-ago quarter. For the year, Client revenue was down 13 percent. In an earnings call, Microsoft chief financial officer Christopher Liddell attributed this to the overall malaise in the PC hardware market and the “substantial weakness” in the business PC market resulting from budget cuts and delayed hardware refresh cycles. And although Microsoft had indicated it would miss its numbers, the results were weaker than Wall Street estimates of $14.37 billion in sales. For fiscal year 2009 Microsoft had revenue of $58.44 billion, a three percent decline from 2008. One bright spot: Windows unit sales on Netbook minis increased for the first time since the September 2008 quarter.

Yahoo’s financial report was mixed. On a positive note, the struggling online search and advertising firm, beat Wall Street forecasts with its net earnings of $141 million and 10 cents per share. However, most of that was due to substantial cost cutting efforts and handing out over one thousand pink slips. On the downside, Yahoo revenue was $1.57 billion a decrease of 13 percent. And with Yahoo forecasting even greater losses for the current quarter, the industry continue to clamor for Yahoo to ink that long rumored search engine deal with Microsoft. Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz remained mum on any impending deal.

AMD’s financial woes continued. The company was in the red for the 11th straight quarter; although the company said the rate of loss was slowing. For the second fiscal quarter, AMD posted a net loss of $330 million or 49 cents per share. Revenue for the quarter was $1.18 billion.

In the wake of the bruising financials, AMD’s stock is currently trading at $3.77; its profit margin is off by over 43 percent; operating margin is down nearly 17 percent and its return on equity to shareholders is down by a whopping 415 percent.

High Tech Financial Roundup: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Read More »

Ready, aim, fire! Google Chrome Gets Ready to Battle Windows for Desktop Dominance

2009, Laura's Insights ITIC Blog, News / By

Everyone loves a good battle. And no market segment has experienced more bellicosity than the operating system arena.

For the last two decades, Microsoft Windows was the undisputed, dominant player with 90% of the desktop OS market share. Today, Microsoft Windows is still the most widely deployed operating system. But its dominance is no longer undisputed.

Microsoft faces an array of formidable challengers including Apple, Google and Ubuntu. Google’s initiatives over the last two years have obviously attracted a good deal of attention – just as they are meant to do.

The recent media coverage and talk of the looming battle between Google’s Chrome OS and Microsoft Windows 7 and Office 2010 conveniently ignores two important facts: 1) the Chrome operating system doesn’t ship until sometime in 2010, and 2) when it does debut it will initially run only on low-cost Netbooks, a miniscule if rapidly growing part of the market.

Other considerations are not as easily answered: What tangible, material impact will this rivalry have on customer deployments? Will Google’s entrance into the Netbook OS market really force Microsoft to slash prices and cut into its Windows profits, the heart and soul of its business? And who besides the press, Google and Microsoft really cares?

It is abundantly clear that Google and Microsoft — each of whom dominates in their core markets – are desperately attempting to encroach on one another’s turf. Google is a convincing leader in the search engine and online advertising market. And Microsoft continues to be the market leader in operating systems and office productivity applications. The sparring has been exacerbated and honed by the ongoing economic downturn. Hence, the series of recent one-upmanship maneuvers. Microsoft announces it’s moving up the release date for Windows 7 and Google responds with headlines of its own about directly competing with Windows. Google said it will partner with top OEM manufacturers like Acer, HP and Lenovo to port Chrome OS onto their Netbook platforms by the second half of 2010. Microsoft counter-punched by releasing details about some of upcoming Office 2010 applications becoming untethered.

Microsoft is aiming straight for Google with its new Office Web Applications. Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote are heading to the cloud in scaled down versions of the immensely popular software that will be browser based and completely free. And although details have been sketchy at best, sources within Microsoft indicate company intends to meld the Office platform across traditional PCs and servers, the Internet and smart phones.Microsoft did release new details about Office at its Worldwide Partners Conference (WPC) in New Orleans last week.Among the disclosures: Office 2010 – due out in the first half of next year – will include a free Web edition and it will finally offer interoperability with the Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari browsers. The Office 2010 Web edition will also incorporate “lite” versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. Microsoft will likely release more details at its Worldwide Partners Conference (WPC) in New Orleans, this week.

Microsoft and Google continue to circle each other like the battle scarred veterans they are –looking for the weak spot and the right moment to attack, hoping to score a direct hit and encroach on the other’s turf in a meaningful way – e.g. stealing sales and market share.

In truth, neither company has drawn first blood, although not for lack of trying.

 

Google vs. Microsoft: A Historical Perspective

The rivalry between Google and Microsoft dates back several years. Both covet what the other has and both have met with limited success in their attempts to extend their empires beyond their core competencies and revenue streams. While Microsoft has for the last few years been unceasing in its efforts to penetrate the online search engine and advertising market, it still derives 50% of its revenue from the Windows and Office platforms.
Microsoft’s Bing search engine debuted earlier this year to generally positive results. In fact, Bing is Microsoft’s best effort to date but it remains to be seen how much impact it will have on Google.

For its part, Google launched its first serious offensive strike at Microsoft’s dominance in the operating system and applications arena in early 2006 with Google Apps, a set of web-based and desktop applications. Google Apps consists of Gmail, Google Maps, Google Docs & Spreadsheets and Google Calendar. The company continues to bolster the functionality of the platform, and in 2007-2008 added Standard and Premier offerings that incorporate remote and mobile access capabilities, email migration tools and stronger online technical support. The Standard version of Google Apps is free and the Premier version lists for $50 per seat.

Microsoft & Google by the Numbers

From a financial standpoint, both Google and Microsoft remain healthy, although like every other ITfirm, both have felt the effects of the continuing economic crunch. So far this year, Microsoft has laid off 5,000 employees; this is the first substantial layoff in the company’s history. More worrisome for the Redmond, Washington giant is that its Quarterly Revenue and Quarterly Earnings Growth fell into negative categories (See chart below) from the 2008 to the 2009 third quarter ended March 31. The company hopes that Windows 7 (due out on October 22) and Office 2010 will spur sales and revenue and reverse the decline. At the same time, Microsoft knows it must diversify and so it looks to the Web and the emerging cloud computing market, where companies like Amazon and Google dominate.

Google, for its part has yet to loosen Microsoft’s hold in the rich operating systems and office productivity suite. Google Chrome is free and as such does not generate any revenue for the company but that may change because Netbook sales are poised to explode over the next 12 months and could provide Google with the needed momentum to establish itself as an applications provider.In the meantime, Google hopes that the good news from its latest financial earnings (see chart below) and its aggressive high profile marketing strategy will generate a buzz and create pent-up demand for Chrome in the run-up to its 2010 debut.

 

Performance Criteria – Q3 2009

  Google Microsoft
Market Cap: $135 billion $206.7 billion
Profit margin: 20.6% 25.9%
Operating margin: 32.6% 37.1%
Total Cash: $19.3 billion $24 billion
Debt: $0 $2 billion
Return on Assets: 14.2% 20.3%
Return on Equity: 16.% 42.5%
Annual Revenue: $22.7 billion $60.4 billion
Annual Net Income: $4.6 billion $22.5 billion
Quarterly Revenue Growth: 2.9% -5.6%
Quarterly Earnings Growth: 19% -32.2%

***Editor’s Note: Google’s fiscal year coincides with the calendar year, while Microsoft’s fiscal year begins on July 1. The above figures represent Google’s most recent second quarter ended June 30.

 

Future Prospects

What does this posturing and verbal sparring mean for corporate and consumer customers? In the near term, Google and Microsoft’s dueling headlines and pronouncements will have very little impact on customers in terms of platform commitment and purchasing decisions. The ongoing rivalry does mean that neither company can relax or relent for a Pico-second. Each must continue to deliver first-rate, full featured, bug-free products that deliver ease-of-use and integration and interoperability with existing applications and platforms. And both companies must stick to their announced timetables and deliver on their promises, lest one or the other exploit the opportunity.

Microsoft can’t afford a repeat of the lack of backwards application compatibility that plagued its much-maligned Vista desktop. At the same time, Google’s hopes for penetrating the applications and OS market rest on the functionality of its offerings beyond the simple basics that are adequate for Netbook sales.

Ultimately, corporate and consumer customers will demand and receive high performance products at a reasonable price – or they’ll simply sit on their wallets.

The biggest winners in this ongoing war may be the end users. And isn’t that a refreshing change?

Ready, aim, fire! Google Chrome Gets Ready to Battle Windows for Desktop Dominance Read More »

ITIC 2009 Global Server Hardware & Server OS Reliability Survey Results

ITIC Reports & Surveys / By

For the second year in a row, IBM AIX UNIX running on the Power or “P” series servers, scored the highest reliability ratings among 15 different server operating system platforms – including Linux, Mac OS X, UNIX and Windows.

Those are the results of the ITIC 2009 Global Server Hardware and Server OS Reliability Survey which polled C-level executives and IT managers at 400 corporations from 20 countries worldwide. The results indicate that the IBM AIX operating system whether running on Big Blue’s Power servers (System p5s)  is the clear winner, offering rock solid reliability. The IBM servers running AIX consistently score at least 99.99% or just 15 minutes of unplanned per server, per annum downtime.

Overall, the results showed improvements in reliability, patch management procedures and an across-the-board reduction in per server, per annum Tier 1, Tier 2 and the most severe Tier 3 outages.  Among the other survey highlights:

  • IBM leads all vendors for both server hardware and server OS reliability as well as the fewest number of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 unplanned server outages per year. IBM AIX running on the System p5s had less than one unplanned outage incident per server in a 12 month period. More impressively, the IBM servers experience no Tier 3 outages. Tier 3 outages are the most severe and usually involve more than four hours or a half-day worth of downtime and can also result in lost data.
  • HP UX also performed well though HP servers notch approximately 25 minutes more downtime than IBM servers, depending on model and configuration – or just under 40 minutes per server, per annum downtime.
  • IT managers spend approximately 11minutes to apply patches to IBM servers running the AIX operating system, which is again, the least amount of time spent patching any server or operating system. The open source Ubuntu distribution is a close second with IT managers spending 12 minutes to apply patches, while IT managers in the Apple Mac OS X 10.x. Novell SuSE and customized Linux distribution environments each spend 15 to 19 minutes applying patches.
  • IBM also took top honors in another important category: IBM Power servers and AIX experience the lowest amount of the more severe Tier 2 and Tier 3 outages combined of any server hardware or server operating system. The combined total of Tier 2 and Tier 3 outages accounted for just 19% of all per server, per annum failures.
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 showed the biggest improvements of any of the vendors. The Windows Server 2003 and 2008 operating systems running on Intel-based platforms saw a 35% reduction in the amount of unplanned per server, per annum downtime from 3.77 hours in 2008 to 2.42 hours in 2009. The number of annual Windows Server Tier 3 outages also decreased by 31% year over year and the time spent applying patches similarly decline by 35% from last year to 32 minutes in 2009.
  • This year’s survey for the first time, also incorporated reliability results for the Apple Mac and OS X 10.x OS platform.  The survey respondents indicated that Apple products are extremely competitive in an enterprise setting. IT managers spend approximately 15 minutes per server to apply patches and Apple Macs recorded just under 40 minutes of per server, per annum downtime.

ITIC 2009 Global Server Hardware & Server OS Reliability Survey Results Read More »

Windows 7 is a make or break release for Microsoft

Laura's Insights ITIC Blog / By

The long awaited successor to Windows XP and Windows Vista, will ship several months earlier than planned. Expectations are high industry-wide.

Windows 7 is crucial to Microsoft’s over-arching software business and technology strategy for the next two years. Although it is an incremental upgrade and not a major overhaul of the underlying Vista kernel, Windows 7 represents a crucial upgrade for both consumer and corporate customers.

Practically speaking, Windows 7 must do what Vista didn’t: deliver near seamless, plug and play integration and interoperability with the overwhelming majority of Microsoft and third party applications, device drivers, utilities and hardware peripherals. As a standalone operating system (OS) Vista was fine. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a standalone OS. The lack of backwards compatibility between Vista and third party software and even incompatibilities in the file formats between Vista and Office 2007 and other Microsoft products was a nightmare for corporations and consumers alike.

As a result, there is no margin for error. Windows 7 must fulfill users’ expectations, business and technology needs from the first day it ships. Microsoft will not get a second chance to make a good first impression. Failure to do so could send customers running to rival desktop platforms like Apple’s Mac OS X 10.x and Linux distributions, or even online options such as those being pitched by Google. . And if Windows 7 does not deliver the features, integration, interoperability and reliability Microsoft is promising, it may well create a domino effect that adversely impacts the upcoming releases of related solutions like Exchange Server and the Office platform.

Integration and interoperability are the most important criteria, besting even cost, when it comes to choosing a new technology. The results of ITIC’s May 2009 Application Availability survey of 300 businesses worldwide found that 60% of business said integration and interoperability with existing and legacy applications tops the list of “must have” items in new software application and operating system purchases. Cost came in a close second with 56% of the respondents followed by ease of use and installation (55%).

The stakes for Windows 7 are also high because of intensified competition. Rumors abound that Microsoft pushed up the release date by at least three months so that Windows 7 hits the streets in advance of the low cost netbook version of Google’s Android. Microsoft also faces increased competition in its decades-old rival Apple. During the past two years Apple’s Mac OS X 10.x running on Apple’s Intel-based proprietary hardware has been making a comeback in corporate enterprises. Apple products do not represent a significant threat to Microsoft’s corporate desktop dominance, but they can nibble at the fringes, potentially dilute momentum [for Windows 7] and take some market share. In this ongoing global economic downturn, no vendor wants to concede any revenue or even a percentage point of market share.

Microsoft of course is acutely aware of these issues. In recent months, company CEO Steve Ballmer and Senior Vice President Bill Veghte have publicly stated that users were stymied by the incompatibility issues they encountered with Vista. They intend to avoid those problems with Windows 7.

Fortuitously, for Microsoft, there are many factors in Windows 7’s favor. They include:

  • Pent-up Demand. To date, only 10% of the 700 survey respondents in ITIC’s 2009 Global IT and Technology Trends Global Deployment Survey have deployed Vista as their company’s primary desktop operating system. The results indicated that Windows XP remains the primary desktop OS for 89% of the respondents. Nearly half—45%—of the survey respondents indicated they would skip Vista and migrate from XP to Windows 7. The main reasons for this were cost constraints associated with the bearish economy, and reluctance to undertake a complex OS upgrade with manpower constraints.The prevailing sentiment among businesses is that they can afford to wait because Windows XP adequate met their business and technology needs over the last two years. ITIC believes this bodes well for Windows 7 deployments in the short and intermediate term. If 20% of the installed base of legacy Windows XP users migrate or indicate their intention to upgrade to Windows 7 within the first three or four months of shipment, Microsoft will be well-positioned. There is a reasonable likelihood of this, providing Windows 7 delivers the goods. And the advance word from customers interviewed by ITIC is generally positive.
  • New feature set. Windows 7 will have six different versions, but to minimize the confusion that accompanied the Vista launch, only the Home Premium and Professional editions will be widely sold in retail outlets. Specific versions that are designed for enterprise use or developing nations will be aggressively marketed to those specific accounts and geographic regions, thus taking the guesswork out of purchasing. Most importantly: Microsoft says that every one of the versions will include all of the capabilities and features of the edition below it which will help to minimize upgrade woes. Corporations and consumers that want to move to a more feature rich version of Windows 7 can use Windows Anytime Upgrade to purchase the upgrade online and unlock the features of those editions from their desktops.ITIC interviewed several dozen Windows 7 beta users over the last several months and an overwhelming 9 out of 10 respondents expressed their satisfaction with improvements in many Windows 7’s core capabilities when compared to both Windows XP and Vista. This includes faster boot sequence, better reliability, improved security, a much faster and more comprehensive search engine, and more flexible configuration options. Additionally, Microsoft bolstered the inherent security of Windows 7 with DirectAccess and BitLocker To Go features. The DirectAccess capability is designed to provide remote, traveling and telecommuting workers with the same secure connectivity as though they were local by establishing a VPN “tunnel” to their corporate networks. BitLocker To Go extends the data encryption features introduced in Vista to include removable storage devices such as USB thumb drives support in Windows 7. Users can employ a password or a smart card with a digital certificate to unlock and access their data. And the devices can be used on any other Windows 7-based machine with the correct password. Users can also read, but not modify data on older Windows XP and Vista systems.
  • Economical and feature rich Licensing contracts. Finally, the terms and conditions of Windows 7 licensing contracts promise to make upgrades easier on corporate IT budgets. In February, Microsoft said it would provide a license that will allow customers to directly upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. There is a caveat, though: users will have to wipe their hard drives and perform a clean install – so technically, it’s not an upgrade. Microsoft has not yet released pricing details for Windows 7 but ITIC believes the upgrade license will most likely cost 20% to 40% less than a new license.Additionally, corporations that purchased Microsoft’s Software Assurance Maintenance and upgrade plan as a standalone product or received it as part of their Enterprise Agreement (EA) licenses, are entitled to free upgrades to Windows 7 since it is an incremental release. Additionally, in order to make life easier for users (and to engender goodwill) Microsoft is letting the Release Candidate (RC) free trial license for Windows 7 last a full year until June 2010! And users looking for a discounted version of Windows 7 to run on low cost, minis or netbooks take note: Microsoft and Intel have agreed that in order for a device to be considered a netbook, the screen must not exceed 10.2” Prior to this, Microsoft allowed customers to get the Windows XP or Vista discount for or devices as large as a 12.1” screen.

In summary, all indications are that Microsoft has learned from its Vista mistakes. As a result, businesses and consumers stand ready to reap significant benefits in compatibility, features, pricing and licensing with Windows 7.

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ITIC 2010 Editorial Calendar & Surveys

Editorial Calendars / By

ITIC differentiates itself with independent, non-sponsored Web-based surveys. We conduct these surveys in partnership with Sunbelt Software on a wide range of hardware, software, networking and business-issues related technology topics.

Quickly executed surveys often capture critical opportunities in rapidly changing markets.

This is an exciting and challenging time for the high technology industry. There continue to be many emerging high growth technologies and changes in the status quo for some legacy technologies, all of which can present unique and difficult challenges for both the vendor and user community. Corporate IT departments are under cost constraints and tasked with accomplishing more with the same or fewer purchasing dollars. More than ever, strategists require tools that offer timely insight into changing market conditions.

Below is ITIC’s 2010 Editorial Calendar. It provides a detailed list of our upcoming research including a list of forthcoming survey topics which ITIC will conduct over the next two (2) quarters. We will continue to update this list with the dates and times when the surveys will go live and provide you with links to participate if you so choose. And please feel free to contact us and let us know if you have ideas for future survey topics.

Upcoming Survey Topics

January: 2010 -2011 Technology and Business Deployment Trends and Timetables

Description: This ITIC Report, based on survey data and first person customer interviews will provide a detailed overview of the challenges facing IT departments in 2010. These include: budget and staffing issues, deployment trends and migration issues and how IT departments are handling crucial issues such as security, storage and disaster recovery during the ongoing economic downturn. The Report will present the latest ITIC survey data (done in conjunction with Stratus Technologies and Sunbelt Software) based on a poll of 650 IT managers and C-level executives worldwide.

February: Database Deployment Trends & Issues

Description: This survey and report examines the crucial role of databases in today’s network environments. It will poll users on their preferred database vendor; satisfaction with price, performance, features, technical service and support and licensing policies of the major database vendors. It will also detail the reasons customers chose a particular database and vendor and delve into the top technical and business challenges confronting users as they strive to upgrade, manage and maintain their database environments and adapt them to new technology models like virtualization and cloud computing.

March/April: Server Hardware and Server OS Reliability Survey

Description: Reliability and uptime are absolutely essential; corporations of all sizes increasingly require 99.99% availability and greater. But which platforms actually deliver? This survey will poll businesses on the reliability, uptime and management issues involving amount of annual outages associated with the major server operating systems and server hardware platforms. The survey will poll customers on the frequency and number of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 outages that occur on their core server OS and server hardware platforms. The results of this independent, non-vendor sponsored survey will provide businesses with the information they need to determine the TCO and ROI of their individual environments. The survey will also enable the server OS and server hardware vendors to see how their products rate among global users ranging from SMBs with as few as 25 people to the largest global enterprises with 100,000+ end users.

April/May: Virtualization Deployment Trends, Desktop and Server hardware:

Description: This ITIC survey and report will focus on the current and emerging virtualization technologies including server, desktop (VDI), application, storage and network virtualization. The survey and report will also focus on the crucial nature of virtualization management as well as key issues (pricing, technology challenges etc.) involving and impacting virtualization deployments including Cloud computing, virtualization management and virtualization management issues. The study will poll corporate customers on their primary virtualization vendor(s); ways in which they are utilizing virtualization; the impact (positive or negative) that virtualization has had on their business; quantifying the TCO and ROI of virtualization; the primary reasons customers are deploying or deferring a move to the technology; virtualization licensing issues and virtualization security issues. Vendors profiled in this report will include: VMware, Citrix, Microsoft, HP, IBM, Oracle (now incorporating Sun Microsystems and Virtual Iron) and Parallels.

June: Server and Application Deployment Trends and Issues

Description: This Report will present the findings of an ITIC/Sunbelt Software Web-based survey that polls users on desktop and server hardware and application related topics. Featured vendors will include: Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Lenovo and Sun, As always, ITIC will supplement the Web-based responses with first person customer interviews. ITIC will also get vendor reaction to the survey results. The survey will cover:

  • Primary desktop and server hardware vendor(s)
  • Average life cycles of Windows, Linux, UNIX and Mac desktop and server hardware (including file/print servers; database servers; Email/messaging/collaboration servers and Web servers)
  • Percentage of hardware that a company replaces when it does a major upgrade
  • How much corporations spend on their mainstream line of business servers and desktops
  • Primary server configuration (e.g., two processors, four processors, eight processors, etc.)
  • Current and planned deployments for 32- and 64-bit environments
  • Current and planned deployments for mobile desktop hardware
  • Comparison of the reliability and uptime of the major server platforms including: IBM, HP, Dell et al.
  • Adoption rate of Netbooks and Tablets (including the Apple iPad)

July: Unified Communications, Email and collaboration

Description: This Report will utilize the latest ITIC independent survey data to provide an overview of the latest trends in unified communication, Email and collaboration platforms including and alternative platforms like Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes/Domino, Scalix, Zarafa and Zimbra. This Report will also deliver insight as to the issues spurring or impeding a move to a unified communications environment as well as user deployment trends and upgrade plans.

August/September: CIOs

Description: This Report will use the latest ITIC survey data to provide CIOs with a detailed snapshot of the business and technology issues that have the greatest impact on their companies. The Report will also incorporate customer case study profiles of up to six CIOs at mid-sized and enterprise organization from various vertical markets.

October: Licensing and Contract Negotiations

Description: Often overlooked, licensing and contract negotiations can have a long term advantageous or potentially damaging impact on your company’s bottom line and technology decisions. This ITIC report will provide a detailed overview of how licensing agreements impact the business decision to upgrade to a new technology platform or delay a migration. This Report will also examine and provide guidance on pivotal issues such as:

  • Is your firm in compliance with the terms and conditions of your current licensing contracts and what to do to address non-compliance?
  • How will new technologies like multi-core and multi-threading and virtualization impact your new licensing agreements?
  • In a tough economy, should your company re-negotiate the terms and conditions of its existing licensing contracts?
  • Can your organization afford to upgrade its current technology and licensing contracts?
  • Is it time to renew your current licensing agreement? If so, what to look for as your firm reviews the terms of the contract
  • Provide negotiating tips and advice on how to get the best deal for your company.

Organizations must have confidence in their vendors, their technology and their own ability to negotiate deals that are cost-effective, readily understandable, focused on their needs and flexible enough to meet and adapt to this rapidly changing and challenging business environment. This ITIC Report will also address the major trends that affect software use, including mobile and remote users, collaboration among various users, and Internet, intranet and extranet use.

November: Remote Workers and Mobility Trends

Description: Increasingly, “the office” is located wherever the end user employee happens to be: a home office, on the road, or connecting via PDAs, mobile and handheld devices from an airport, an automobile or kiosk. This ITIC Report will use the latest survey data to provide you with quantifiable usage statistics on remote, telecommuting and mobile users. It will also examine the Pros and Cons of mobility and ask crucial questions about whether or not these mobile and remote workers are delivering greater value and increased productivity to their respective firms. It will also take a look at the technical and management challenges facing companies as the rate of mobile and remote workers increases. It will also feature corporate case study examples.

December: ITIC 2011 Global IT and Technology Trends Forecast

Description: This Report will be based on ITIC survey results that poll IT administrators and C-level executives on a variety of forward looking business and technology issues for the 2011 – 2012 timeframe. Topics covered will include: IT staffing and budgets; application and network infrastructure upgrades; integration and interoperability between legacy environments and new Web 2.0 and remote and mobile technologies; hardware and software purchasing trends.

***

Virtualization — specifically the TCO and ROI of application and desktop virtualization which are two of the hottest areas. All indications are that the current server virtualization market leaders Citrix, Microsoft, VMware et al. are well positioned as the early market leaders in application virtualization and desktop virtualization (by virtue of their own offerings as well as their respective partnerships with hardware OEMs, software vendors and service providers). This survey will include specific product comparison queries and ask corporations to rate the performance, reliability and scalability of products such as VMware’s Live Migration vs. Microsoft’s Hyper-V; compare and contrast the major virtualization desktop, application and management offerings from the major vendors like Citrix, Microsoft, Oracle, Parallels, Sun, VMware, Virtual Iron and others. It will also address management and licensing issues and trends.

Server OS and Server hardware Reliability survey — This survey will poll businesses on the reliability, uptime and management issues involving amount of annual outages associated with the major server operating systems and server hardware platforms. The survey will poll customers on the frequency and number of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 outages that occur on their core server OS and server hardware platforms. The results of this independent, non-vendor sponsored survey will provide businesses with the information they need to determine the TCO and ROI of their individual environments. The survey will also enable the server OS and server hardware vendors to see how their products rate among global users ranging from SMBs with as few as 25 people to the largest global enterprises with 100,000+ end users.

Desktop and Server OS and Office deployment trends and issues — This survey will also provide SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) to the tactical and long term strategic positioning of the Windows, Linux, UNIX and open source OS environments with respect to legacy technologies as well as emerging markets like cloud computing.* Licensing, Compliance and Genuine Software trends and issues. These three business issues are pivotal to corporate success with various technologies. Licensing issues are having a huge impact on emerging technologies like virtualization. This survey will provide a comprehensive overview of user deployment and purchasing of software licensing, maintenance and upgrade programs. It will also examine corporate customer satisfaction (or lack thereof) and understanding of these issues and how it impacts the TCO and ROI of their current and planned software infrastructure.

The rise of the Macintosh in the corporate enterprise. Mac hardware and OS usage is on the rise in the corporate environment and is at its highest level since the late 1980s. This survey will poll corporate IT managers and C-level executives on the issues that are propelling or impeding them to deploy Macs in their networks. It will ask customers to rate the performance, scalability, reliability, and security and management capabilities of the Mac. It will also ask businesses to assess the Pros and Cons of Mac virtualization, integration and interoperability with disparate OS environments such as Windows, Linux and open source.

 Survey Methodology

ITIC partners with Sunbelt Software to conduct secure independent Web-based surveys that contain multiple choice and essay questions. In order to ensure the highest degree of accuracy, we employ authentication and tracking mechanisms to ensure that no one tampers with the survey or votes more than once. We poll businesses across a wide range of vertical markets; respondents range from micro-SMBs with fewer than 25 employees up to the largest multinational enterprises with over 100,000 workers. Each Report also includes extensive first person customer interviews and where applicable, vendor and reseller interviews. The titles of the survey respondents include:

  • Network administrators
  • VPs of IT
  • Chief information officers (CIOs)
  • Chief technology officers (CTOs)
  • Chief executive officers (CEOs)

ITIC welcomes input and suggestion from its vendor and enterprise clients with respect to surveys, survey questions and topics for its Editorial Calendar. If there’s a particular topic or question in a specific survey that you’d like to see covered, please let us know and we will do our best to address it.

About Information Technology Intelligence Consulting (ITIC)

ITIC, founded in 2002, is a research and consulting firm in suburban Boston. It provides primary research on a wide variety of technology topics for vendors and enterprises. ITIC’s mission is to provide its clients with tactical, practical and actionable advice and to help its clients make sense of the technology and business events that influence and impact their infrastructures and IT budgets. ITIC can provide your firm with accurate, objective research on a wide variety of technology topics ranging from software, hardware, networking, virtualization and cloud computing to the services industries that support the technology, including outsourcing. ITIC’s mission is to help vendor and corporate clients make sense of the technology and business events that are impacting their infrastructures and their IT budgets.

ITIC 2010 Editorial Calendar & Surveys Read More »

Oracle Buys Virtual Iron

News / By
  • Niche market virtualization vendor known for low priced products
  • Financial details undisclosed
  • Ellison has focused long term strategy
  • Virtual Iron, Sun interoperate with Microsoft platform

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping. And nobody is a better shopper than Oracle chairman Larry Ellison. His newest acquisition is niche market virtualization vendor Virtual Iron. The company based in Lowell, Massachusetts is notable for delivering innovative server virtualization – that includes live migration and live Snapshot capabilities – at cut rate prices.

The acquisition of Virtual Iron gives Oracle a great play in the SMB space where customers don’t have as much money to invest as their enterprise counterparts. At a list price of less than $800 per socket or under $1,600 for the popular two-socket configuration, Virtual Iron is a bargain.

Ellison is a master strategist. This latest acquisition coming closely on the heels of Oracle’s purchase of Sun Microsystems makes Oracle a contender in many market arenas and serves notice to virtualization market leaders like VMware, Microsoft and Citrix that the thriving virtualization market just got more competitive.

Oracle Buys Virtual Iron Read More »

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