Apple Workgroup Servers Clear Winners in World Wide Web
Server Cost of Ownership Study
Study Reveals Apple Web Servers Exhibit Lowest Cost of
Ownership, and Are Easiest to Use for Small to Medium-sized
Organizations and Workgroups
CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Apple Computer
Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL), revealed today that its workgroup servers
offer a considerable advantage in overall cost-of-ownership,
ease-of-use and maintenance for customers in small business
or workgroups according to a study released by the Business
Research Group (BRG, Newton, Mass). Unlike previous studies
of web server ease-of-implementation and cost-of-ownership,
this study examined the medium-size business market (100-499
employees), and in workgroups (150 or fewer employees) within
larger enterprises (500 or more employees).
According to Cheryl Ball, director of Research for BRG, the
target study was chosen because up until now, this important
part of the Internet market has been ignored. ''This study
found that medium-sized organizations, because of their size
and relative lack of computer support resources, have very
different needs and values in their web server purchases than
their larger Fortune 1000 counterparts,'' said Ball. ''Most
cost-of-ownership studies look at Fortune 500 companies and
their needs and decide that workgroups and mid-size
businesses just need a scaled-down version. This study
indicates this is simply not the case.''
BRG studied organizations deploying web servers running
Netscape Fastrack for UNIX, Microsoft Internet Information
Server for Windows NT, O'Reilly Website software for Windows
95 and StarNine's WebSTAR server software running on a Mac
OS-based workgroup server from Apple (the Apple Internet
Server Solution). The study consisted of telephone interviews
with 277 U.S.-based webserver managers.
Results of the study indicate that Apple offers advantages in
four key areas:
Ease-of-use and maintenance Overall cost-of-ownership Apple
web servers are used more extensively than the competition
Server capacity is not an issue in this size of group
Bill McGlasson, Apple's product manager for servers
explained, ''The findings in BRG's study are significant
because this market represents the fastest-growing market for
worldwide web server purchases,'' said McGlasson. ''There is
a built-in bias towards considering the Fortune 1000 as the
defining market segment for all computing. The assumption
seems to be that whatever Fortune 1000 companies need,
everybody else needs too. This study indicates that is not
the case and that Apple technology is a key enabler in
providing a compelling Internet presence for small businesses
and workgroups in the enterprise.''
Results of the study have been compiled into a whitepaper and
can be accessed on the world wide web
applenet.apple.com.
Apple Computer, Inc. ignited the personal computer revolution
in the 1970s with the Apple II, and reinvented the personal
computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is now
recommitted to its original mission -- to bring the best
personal computing products and support to students,
educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons,
and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.
NOTE: Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Mac OS, and AISS are
registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Additional
company and product names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully
acknowledged.
Summary of Key Findings Business Research Group World Wide
Web Server Cost of Ownership Study
Oct. 22, 1997
Apple web servers provide a significantly lower total
cost-of-ownership than the competing servers, based on the
following factors: lower initial costs; lower installation
costs; lower content creation costs per page; lower total
outside services costs; lower server management costs; lower
peer training and online help costs. These advantages led to
a cumulative Apple server cost advantages over the other
servers considered in the study: as high as 300 percent per
internal user, 144 percent per server and 158 percent per web
page.
Initial System's price: Per server, Apple users spent 205
percent less than Netscape, 93 percent less than O'Reilly and
66 percent less than Microsoft. Installation costs: Overall,
Apple and O'Reilly both have a 72 percent cost advantage
relative to Netscape and a 37 percent cost advantage relative
to Microsoft. Outside Services Costs: Apple's cost advantage
in this area ranged from 102 percent to 151 percent less than
the competition. In general, these costs consisted of
expenses incurred for training and installation/systems
integration.
Apple customers gave Apple's web servers higher overall
approval ratings than the other groups surveyed gave their
respective web servers for their performance in the following
two areas:
1. Ease-of-implementation (as evidenced by simplicity of
hardware setup and software installation)97/
2. Ease-of-management
For the server environments that fall within the scope of the
study, Apple's web server sites are the largest, exhibiting
the following characteristics:
1. More web pages 2. More internal users 3. More servers 4.
The second largest number of hits per day.
SOURCE Apple Computer, Inc. |
