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Apple Workgroup Servers Clear Winners in World Wide Web Server Cost of Ownership Study
PR Newswire - October 22, 1997 08:34
AAPL %CPR %MLM V%PRN P%PRN
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.
/NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's website
(http://www.apple.com/source/), call Apple's Media Helpline at 408-974-2042,
or contact David Krane at Apple's PR agency, Niehaus Ryan Group, Inc.,
650-827-7081./
/CONTACT: Diane Hayward of Apple Computer, Inc., 408-974-0180, or
hayward1@apple.com/
/Web site: apple.com
(AAPL)
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