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Linux Seen Winning Nearly 8 Pct. of Japan's Server OS Market in 2000
October 30, 2000 (TOKYO) -- International Data Corp. Japan (IDC Japan) released its year-2000 Japanese market forecast for server operating systems on Oct. 26. The company estimates that a total of 531,300 server OS licenses will be shipped in Japan this year, representing an increase of 26.9 percent over 1999.
Broken down by type, shipments of the Linux operating system are expected to jump 144.4 percent to 41,200 units. This 2.4-fold burst in growth will propel Linux to a 7.8 percent share of the overall server OS market in 2000, compared to a 4.0 percent share the previous year, IDC Japan said.
Windows NT shipments are expected to decline 5.1 percent to 323,600 units, while shipments of Windows 2000, which just debuted in February, are forecast to total 97,100 units. In terms of market share, Windows NT is expected to hold 60.9 percent and Windows 2000 another 18.3 percent of the market. However, considering that Windows NT held an 81.3 percent share in 1999, IDC Japan forecasts that the overall Windows hold on the server OS market will contract by 2.1 percentage points this year.
Meanwhile, Unix shipments are expected to increase 17.1 percent to 49,800 units this year, although its share of the market is expected to inch down to 9.4 percent compared to 10.1 percent in 1999. IDC Japan gave several reasons for the tremendous growth in shipments of the Linux OS.
For one thing, more companies are opting to use Linux in some of their systems when they undertake systems integration. Second, more users are placing orders because server vendors and SI vendors have clearly voiced their intentions to support Linux. A third reason is that Linux has become even easier than it was before to install and operate. Finally, more and more experienced and knowledgeable individual users have begun running Linux.
IDC Japan forecasts that the server OS market will grow at an average annual rate of 17.3 percent over the period from 1999 to 2004. During this same five-year period the company predicts that shipments of the Linux OS will skyrocket, growing at an estimated average rate of 69.5 percent per year. By 2004 the company forecasts that Linux will hold a 25.4 percent share of the overall server OS market in Japan.
Related stories:
Linux Hits 4 Percent of Japanese Server OS Market: IDC Japan Survey
Linux Advances from Status of 'Tested' to 'Guaranteed'
Japan's PC Server Shipments Rise 20.7 Pct. in First Half
(BizTech News Dept.)
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