Technology: The Great Indian Server Dust-Up [Pg. 2]

[Contn.]
The Great Indian Server Dust-Up

The Real Story Of The Competition:
It's Not The Companies, It's The Platform Stupid

It isn't really IBM and Sun that are at war; it is two different business models. Sun, and this is a function of the company's international strategy, aspires for market leadership position in the server market. It is already the dominant player in the global and Indian UNIX server market with a 48 per cent and 35 per cent share respectively, but as Pramanik articulates it ''wants to be the overall leader including servers running Windows, Linux, and other operating systems''.

The only problem is that it wants to be this on its own terms. Ask anyone who works for Sun what the best platform for any application is and the answer is likely to be UNIX/Solaris.

IBM, in contrast, has servers using a range of processors and platforms. ''IBM servers come with multiple processors and multiple OS as a result of which it is best equipped to service the needs of its customers,'' explains Basu Hurkadli, Country Manager (System Sales), IBM India. ''All customer requirements cannot be met by a single processor or a single OS.''

Specifically, it is Linux as an operating system that IBM is betting on. Last year, Linux's share in server OS grew by 27 per cent; thus far this year, there has been little let up in growth (24 per cent).

Linux, as even the trainee in your IT department will be able to tell you is a low-cost, scalable, and reliable OS that is based on open standards. IDC expects the Linux-base in India to grow at the rate of 80 per cent for the next five years. ''Why do you think we set up a Linux-based software development centre in Bangalore?'', asks Hurkadli.

We'll tell you why: because Linux is UNIX-like in its stability and reliability, but comes at a far lower cost and is, as we've said so already (and we'll say it again), based on open standards.

It isn't just servers from Big Blue and the new H-P, though, that pose a threat to Sun. The small but significant global trend of companies replacing stacks of servers with mainframes capable of running multiple applications bodes ill for it. IBM, as you might know, is the most mainstream among mainframe makers.

The Future, Or How It Can All Be Expected
To Pan Out In The Long-term

No one's placing any bets yet (and that's true of developments in the global terrain as well), but fact is, Sun does seem to be fighting too many battles. Once the new H-P emerges, Sun will even lose its position of dominance in the UNIX servers market. That though is several years, and a million integration-related issues, away. For the time being, all companies selling servers in India have to find ways to deal with the slowdown. Sun, for its part claims there is no slowdown (there, that's another fight, this one with IDC) and that the market is growing at the rate of 30 per cent. ''In previous years, we grew by almost 80 per cent; this year we expect to grow above market rates,'' says Pramanik.

That may be a trifle difficult in light of increased competition. ''IBM's eServers range offers diverse end-to-end solutions,'' claims Huradli, ''and we have expanded our customer-base (this year)''. Then there is the new H-P, which could prove everyone who's been writing off the merger wrong and set the server market ablaze.

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