What are the implications of the numerous migrations by UNIX users to Linux and to Windows, the folks at Gabriel Consulting Group asked their survey audience. Turns out the answer may not be the imminent demise of UNIX, since, among its other virtues, the platform's availability and security and its virtualization capabilities enable consolidation and cost reductions that appeal to more than just a few users.

Gabriel Consulting Group Founder Dan Olds reports in CTOEdge that his organization routinely surveys both x86 and UNIX server users, and he says that the results demonstrate the importance of UNIX boxes as a critical component of medium-sized and large data centers.

While it is the case that systems based on x86 processors running Windows and Linux have surpassed the (generally) RISC-based servers running UNIX in both unit volumes and sales revenue over the past few years, Olds concedes, the reason is that x86 system technology has gotten better over time. This allows these small systems to become commodities for the most part, taking over many of the tasks that used to sit on UNIX systems, including web serving, file/print serving, and the application layer of many applications.

Still, Olds continues, UNIX systems are typically the backbone of most mid-sized and larger data centers. No longer the single-workload machines of the past, UNIX systems now run multiple workloads, and those workloads are large databases and the apps that run the business.

If these applications crash and data affecting the bottom line is lost, a company might have to disclose this unhappy news in an SEC filing: serious business, in other words. Nevertheless, Olds points out, 91 percent of respondents in Gabriel's most recent survey said that UNIX systems are strategic in their organization and critical to the functioning of their business.

Why is that, Olds ponders, pointing out that UNIX operating systems generally offer a higher degree of availability and security than can be achieved with Windows or Linux today. Much of the UNIX to Windows/Linux migration can be explained as moving workloads from small UNIX-based systems, typically Web servers, file servers and the like, to lower-cost x86 servers that are more than up for the task, he conjectures.

In fact, survey results indicate that UNIX usage is increasing, as close to 70 percent of survey participants report their use of UNIX is growing. "These numbers may come as a surprise to those who see UNIX as a legacy operating system that is slowly dying, but these results have been consistent over the past four years of our survey," Olds adds.

Most of this UNIX growth is taking place primarily in the midrange and high-end – loosely defined as systems with greater than four sockets, Olds explains. Further, responding to the question about the class of system being considered for near-future purchase, around 65 percent of users surveyed said that their upcoming systems would be larger than their present servers, according to Olds. What is more there was significant interest in running UNIX on blades running POWER, Itanium or SPARC processors, with 61 percent of these customers saying they either already own or are planning to purchase these systems, he adds.

Historically, Olds contends, the UNIX world is a bit ahead of the game in virtualization adoption, and some of their virtualization technology is ahead of the x86 world as well. Users have turned to UNIX systems -- no longer a "single application per server" usage model -- to reduce their power, cooling and floor space costs.

Olds notes that nearly two-thirds of survey respondents believe that UNIX systems are more energy-efficient than x86 and those working in UNIX data centers maintain that the UNIX platform actually outperforms x86 when it comes to facilities requirements.

Olds explains this situation as stemming from the users' practice of packing multiple important workloads onto their UNIX boxes, routinely combining multiple UNIX applications onto virtual machines running in partitions, which pushes up overall system utilization rates.

As to the future, Olds is betting that Oracle will succeed in its efforts to acquire Sun and, when it does, will begin the aggressive marketing it is known for in the current UNIX segment currently dominated by IBM and HP. The beneficiaries of that competition, Olds concludes, will be UNIX system customers, who will get more for their money.

More Information

The Future of Unix - CTOEdge article

IT Execs and Managers' Preference and Reliance on UNIX Indicates Long Future Ahead

Unix: A Brand Users Can Understand [...read more...]

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