Fiscal 2010 can very well be called as 'year of the developers'. The year saw significant developments on the server, PC and the mobile operating space with new OS versions, apps-mainly in the mobile space flooding the market. Moreover, faster processors both by Intel and AMD created new benchmarks as users were able to leverage processing power and the multitasking abilities of new OS versions launched over the last year. FY10 was the year that finally saw the commercial launch of Microsoft's much debated and discussed Windows 7. But all these years Microsoft did not find any serious competition on the desktop side, but over the last year one heard more about PC Linux like Ubuntu and an increased interest levels.
Adoption Dynamics
As we look at FY10, Microsoft saw good momentum for its latest server OS-Windows Server 2008 R2 which was touted as the most robust Windows Server Web application platform from Microsoft. It offered an updated web server, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5, and greater support for .NET on the server core. Design goals for IIS 7.5 concentrated on improvements that enabled web administrators to more easily deploy and manage web applications that increased both reliability and scalability. Additionally, IIS 7.5 has streamlined management capabilities and provided more ways to customize the users web serving environments. Large PSUs went in for hardware refresh in select areas thus leading to good uptake of Windows Server R2.
According to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 builds on the foundation of Windows Server 2008, expanding existing technology and adding new innovations that enabled customers to save costs, be more efficient and more effective. Moreover new virtualization tools, web resources, management enhancements, and Windows 7 integration worked well with the customers. Meanwhile, Microsoft server OS for SMBs-the R2 foundation had a good run as it brought down the overall TCO significantly and thus leading to SMB adopting a server platform that is robust and agile and enabled them to host business critical solutions.
Meanwhile on the PC side, Windows 7 was one of the significant developments for Microsoft globally and even in India the traction for Windows 7 was pretty amazing. According to estimates, close to 5,000 Indian enterprises have so far adopted Windows 7 and given that it's just about eight months post the official launch, the numbers looks indeed encouraging-of the 5,000 Indian enterprises which have adopted Windows 7, about 60 percent of the deployments were large enterprises and SMBs constituted the remaining 40 percent. Clearly with Windows 7, Microsoft was able to significantly deepen the SMB slice. Take the case of Malayalam Manorama which is in the process of deploying Windows 7 to over 850 PCs, taking a significant leap from the existing XP systems. If we look at some of large deployments, companies like Wipro which have adopted Windows 7 in a big way in FY10, expects desktop management efficiency gains of up to 20 percent.
If at all there is competition to Windows, it's Red Hat. On the enterprise side Red Hat's Enterprise Linux (RHEL) had an overall good year with many client wins cutting across verticals. Its client list boasted of names like New India Assurance, Euronet, Etisalat, IRCTC among others. For Red Hat, the verticals that brought in bigger revenues were financial services and telecom. Meanwhile, it saw good momentum on the government side with some key e-governance projects going in for Linux. With SMB awareness on Linux on the rise, Red Hat over the year increased its focus on the channels and strengthened its channel ecosystem consisting of hardware and ISVs.
Recently Red Hat made some signifiÂcÂÂÂÂaÂnt announcemÂents-for instance its Enterprise Virtualization 2.2 delivers new server virtualization features. Meanwhile on the Cloud front, it announced its cloud foundations which are a major new offering aimed at delivering comprehensive solutions for planning, building and managing Infrastructure-as-a-service and Platform-as-a-Service and building private and public clouds.
Open Source: Great Potential
While Red Hat has made impressive strides on the Linux front, it is to be seen whether open source can do the same on the consumer PC side. If we look at the consumer PC OS space, the adoption of open source and its awareness remained at the usual dismal levels in India during FY10. But in small pockets one did see adoption of Linux. For instance, Ubuntu saw some traction with instances like Government of Kerala deploying Ubuntu in the computers of state legislative members. However, it's a long way to go on the consumer adoption because due to rampant piracy of proprietary OS like Windows which are available in the grey market at less than Rs 100 levels, encouraging the consumer to go for pirated version of proprietary OS instead of free and legal open source software. With Microsoft tightening its grips on piracy in some ways will drive open source adoption at the consumer side as some will opt for free and a fully functional Linux based PC OS. Cleary for larger adoption, open source need to shed its 'only for geeks image' that will change the rules of the game. Ubuntu, however, has a great potential going forward in this space in India.
UNIX-In the Cusp
The overall gloom in the non-x86 market acted as a dampener for the overall UNIX growth in FY10. While UNIX is the choice for many mission critical IT applications, due to slow spending on big projects, acted as a spoilsport. The key developments over the last year was Sun going into Oracle's fold and in the confusion many consumers started migrating to IBM;AIX and HP-UX. Clearly, there was market realignment on the UNIX side and only in FY11 the future road map of Solaris will be evident. For instance, an IDC report suggests that globally UNIX servers experienced 29 percent revenue decline during Q1 CY10 when compared to corresponding 2009 quarter. This was due to customers delaying on IT decisions and waited for the Sun-Oracle server roadmap. Moreover, the IBM POWER 7 servers, which began shipping in Q1, and separately, HP Integrity servers based on Intel Itanium 9300 processors that were announced in April also altered the market. Worldwide UNIX revenues were $2.3 bn for Q1CY10.
Mobile OS: Expanding Options
FY10 can be called a year of OS choices for the mobile user. Windows had two significant launches including Windows 6.5 and Windows 7. While one also saw Android ramping up fast with many vendors like HTC, Motorola, Samsung launching Android basÂed phoÂnes. Clearly Symbian has very serious competition, but Symbian scores on the overall TCO as compared to Windows or Android. But looking at the way things evolved in FY10, the success factor in the Mobile OS space is the choice of apps the users gets on that OS. On the PC side Windows 7 will see larger adoption with many CIOs putting in place an upgrade plan in FY11. Overall FY11 would be interesÂting one for system software with all these developments.
Shrikanth G
shrikanthg@cybermedia.co.in