"Companies Should Consider Limited Server-Based Linux Implementations" Meta Group 31 August 2001
metagroup.com
"Gains by Linux will also come at the expense of Unix operating systems (e.g., Solaris, AIX, HP-UX). As Intel increasingly gains 64-bit technological equivalency at lower prices to proprietary Unix chipsets such as Sparc, Linux on Intel will change the pricing equation at the expense of Sun.
Meanwhile, IBM and HP with their Linux development efforts are in effect hastening the eventual obsolescence of their Unix systems. This reinforces the more powerful trend of n-tier application architecture driving Unix toward the backend DBMS tier and eventual legacy status."
It will also come at the expense of Microsoft, if Unix users migrate to Linux which Meta estimates will be about 20% lower in price than Microsoft based systems..if MSFT maintains their CAL-client access license. But Microsoft has the option of changing their pricing plan to compete. Evem with Microsoft's CAL, it will be less expensive for Microsoft users to stay with Microsoft than switch to Linux, according to Meta.
"Sun now has a two-front war to fight: Microsoft on one side, and the Intel/IBM/Linux camp on the other."
"Intel and IBM are now doing to Sun what Sun did to DEC in the mid-80s," notes META Group analyst Jack Gold.
"Intel and IBM are making a tight hardware/software integrated OS such as DEC VAX in the 1980s, and Sun Solaris now much less relevant, and ultimately turning the server market into a commodity market-virtually entirely Intel chip-based."
"Ultimately, Linux will get fragmented and vendor-specific like Unix, but for now it has established a new commodity-like dynamic that favors high-volume, low-cost producers. With Intel's new generation of chips, almost any manufacturer can produce a high-performance box at a reasonable cost. metagroup.com
___________
"Sun's Integration Technologies Improve, But Market Momentum Is Still Problematic"
30 August 2001
metagroup.com
"On Monday, Sun Microsystems announced a new application integration strategy and product offerings as part of the iPlanet suite. These new products combine Fusion (acquired from Forte) with EC Xpert and Buyer Xpert technology from Netscape, leveraging the iPlanet platform.
"Sun describes itself as a technology company first, and we believe its current application integration strategy announcement is a step forward in its technology and something Sun needed to do. Sun emphasized that it is building the platform on top of the Web services standards (based on XML, UDDI, and SOAP) originally promulgated by Microsoft and now supported by IBM. This should give Sun and iPlanet a Java application server platform that is comparable to the offerings of principal competitors IBM and BEA.
"Currently, Sun/iPlanet is behind IBM and BEA among Java application server vendors. As Microsoft gains momentum with its Windows-based technology, we expect only two Java app server vendors to succeed in this market. In the race for what will become the third spot in the overall market and the right to compete against IBM and Microsoft, Sun - along with several other vendors - still lags far behind BEA. Sun's main weakness is not its Java application server technology, but rather its marketing and channels."
Additionally, Microsoft is expanding its presence in the overall application server market. ....In the end, we expect two Java application server vendors to compete against Microsoft, and currently those two appear to be IBM and BEA. The distance between BEA and Sun/iPlanet is significant." .......more in article
iPlanet Orbit Moves Toward the Sun
27 August 2001
metagroup.com |
