HPUX market share

[run zhang]

1. I think the current market share are declining for all flavors of Unix because Linux is making in-roads into the low end Unix market.First we see the web and app layer migrated to Linux now more and more databases are moving too. But by the end Unix will hang around for a long time to come if not forever.major reason:cost of course.
2.who use Unix? all sectors as long as they have some extra money to spend or real need for speed, reliability: finance, telecom, government, education, retail, utility. you name it. with all the progress Linux made its still not mature enough for real high end. It can be like angel in one case and devil in another case. maybe its born with some generic defect because of its open nature, who known. all I known is with something good also comes with something bad.
3.solaris is like a young man, AIX is like an old man, hp-ux is like a middle aged man, choice is yours. this can also be a general guide which sector like which.

[VK2COT]

Hello,

There is a place and space for every O/S
to flourish (even Microsoft Windows :)).

Although I am a Unix/Linux/MacOS fan
(with several years of VMS experience too),
there is no doubt that Unix suffered a bit
during 2008.

Note that I have worked on Unix and Linux platforms for 23 years and try to
stay unbiased. I worked and used more than
20 flavours of Unix and even owned and
managed a Linux-based ISP for 10 years
in Australia.

To prove it, see some of my presentations:

http://www.circlingcycle.com.au/Unix-and-Linux-presentations/

As writer Mark Twain said long ago something
along these lines "There are lies,
damn lies, and statistics".

Take them with a grain of salt.

Anyway, according to IDC 3CQ08 (report
done for the third-quarter 2008):

a) HP is #1 in high-end Unix server revenue with 41.1% market share and IBM #2 (38.
6%). Sun is #3 with 14.7%. HP gained 4.6 ppts share YoY.

d) HP holds a #2 position in total WW Unix
server revenue with 27.9% market share,
statistically tied with Sun (28.5%), while IBM is #1 (35.9%).

c) HP continues its strong #1 worldwide
total server shipment position in 3CQ08
(35.3% mkt share; #1 for 26 quarters in a row).

d) This is interesting: HP continues to lead
in the WW Linux market with 37.8% revenue
market share. HP also has the #1 position in
unit shipments with 36.3% market share, while
Dell is #2 with 23.5%.

And so on.

One interesting fact that should raise
attention in supercomputer environments -
of the top 500 supercomputer systems
(source http://www.top500.org):

439 (87.8 percent) run Linux
23 (4.6 percent) run Unix

There are 31 supercomputers that run a mix of Linux and Unix, plus a couple that run MacOS or BSD.

Ten years ago, 99.4 percent of top 500 supercomputers ran some Unix!

I believe HP-UX has bright future and
11.31 offers myriad of security and
performance improvements. Its features
are very competitive. Take some time
to read more about HP-UX 11.31 at
http://docs.hp.com.

Pity most admins are not even aware of them.
For example, wherever I go, I still see SUDO
and/or Super used for privileged access
delegation (instead of Role Based Access
Control). Old habits die hard.

I also do not see SRP and auditing used as
often as it should. HP-UX virtualizations
are excellent and improving as we speak...

Cheers,

VK2COT

[ken halbrecht]

I would recommend you seek out your own information directly from Gartner and IDC as far as market share and innovation go. I would not recommend leveraging a free forum on HP's website, or any public blog or even a Wiki to get facts.

As an example, from 3Q08, for IDC highend servers (>$250k) the data I have is dramatically different from that represented in this discussion stream. (See attached file)

Likewise, if you are interested in Oracle Apps support of Itanium, I would go to Oracle's Briefing center for an answer and no where else.

Get the facts.

[Duncan Edmonstone]

Ken,

If you redefine what is a high end server (IDC say its >$500K but for some reason you've moved that to >$250K), then your stats will look different.

The great (or terrible) thing about statistics is that two wildly different positions can be substantiated from the same set of data.

And whilst we are "getting our facts" and questioning how neutral some stats on a HP forum might be, would you like to declare any vested interests here (like maybe being an IBM server salesman?)

Going back to the original question - market share figures are reasonably uesful for confirming that you aren't dealing with some niche player, but they certainly aren't a sensible basis for making purchasing decisions (otherwise we'd all still be using IBM Mainframes wouldn't we?)

HTH

Duncan

[Duncan Edmonstone]

and yes, cards on the table = I'm a HP employee...

Duncan