Some Oracle users are concerned
about Solaris as an ongoing platform, and many are replacing their
obsolete Oracle servers, migrating onto the cheaper Intel Itaniun2
processors. The Itanium2 64-bit processors are cheaper than Sun
servers, and as aging Solaris servers are replaced, many Oracle
shops are considering new options in Linux and Windows. The
vendors are now offering mainframe-like servers with 16 CPUs and
processing capability of over
250,000 transactions per minute on Windows!
The Intel-based servers generally run Oracle with Linux or Windows.
Companies such as UNISYS are offering special migration services to
help customers move to Oracle10g on windows:
http://www.unisys.com/products/es7000__servers/business__solutions/windows__migration/
In this article in eWeek the author suggests that over 5,000 shops
are considering new alternatives:
http://www.eweek.com/print_article/0,1761,a=114283,00.asp
?In a study conducted in
April surveying 16,000 Unix systems users, Unisys found that 35
percent of businesses running Sun Microsystems Inc.'s SPARC/Solaris
environments were interested in migrating to another platform,
said Bill Jefferis, director of migration services at the Blue
Bell, Pa., company.?
In this article by Metagroup, we
see warnings that Sun may be loosing its competitive edge:
http://www.theitportal.com/staticpages/meta01_5_03.asp
?Although CIOs should rest
assured that Sun is viable in the near to midterm (2003-08),
they should reassess Sun as a strategic partner longer term,
given its slowly eroding competitiveness.?
In this link by Communications
Engineering & Design, we see that Sun is fighting back, but it?s all
about total cost of ownership:
http://itlibrary.itnetcentral.com/detail/RES/1082656942_363.html
?Sun Microsystems has
rearranged its upper management for the climb back to growth.
However, Sun has a long way to go in articulating a clear
message to customers.?
In this article titled Sunset? we
see a gloomy forecast for Sun:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030213.html
?So here is the prognosis.
Sun lost $2 billion last year and will probably lose another $2
billion this year. At that rate, the company has at most five
years to live. They have just renewed a commitment to the
Solaris operating system, which is no longer really viable from
an economic standpoint. I know, I know, Solaris users love
Solaris, but they don't love Solaris prices. And with a falling
market share, Sun can't afford to make Solaris any cheaper.?
In this Business Times article, we
see he threat from Intel clearly described:
http://it.asia1.com.sg/newsdaily/news004_20030618.html
?But Sun's woes have been
exacerbated by its slow reaction to fundamental changes in the
industry, analysts say.
Sun's servers are being squeezed by the increasing power of
so-called commodity chips from Intel Corp and low-cost operating
systems like Linux that only a few years ago could not approach
the performance of the company's Sparc microprocessors and
Unix-based Solaris operating system.?
In sum, many Solaris/Oracle shops are not as loyal as before and
lower costs of the Intel Itanium chips are driving a new push into
Oracle Windows and Oracle Linux.
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