Will IBM be a monopolist in the UNIX server market?
Due to the fact that "IBM will buy Sun for 7 billion dollars," there were statements:
“It is possible that antitrust regulators could interfere with the deal between Sun Microsystems and IBM, as these companies dominate the Unix server segment, occupying 65% of this market.”
But, I wouldn’t be so straightforward to separate the modern market of Unix servers with the proprietary RISC architecture of processors (such as IBM Power, Sun Sparc and HP / Intel Itanium) into a separate and closed market.
There are really only 3 large IBM, Sun and HP companies on the RISC / UNIX market, and after the unification of IBM & Sun, there will be only two competitors: IBM / Power - HP / Itanium (maybe the 3rd will be Fujitsu / Sparc, although I’m I personally think that most likely Fujitsu will be forced to close its Sparc-division).
But note, in history, along with their RISC-architectures, such legendary companies as:
1. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) - CPU Alpha AXP ,
2. Silicon Graphics (SGI) - CPU MIPS ,
3. Intergraph Computer - CPU Clipper ,
4. Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG (SNI) - CPU MIPS ,
5. Pyramid Technology - MIPS CPU ,
6. Tandem Computers - CPU MIPS ,
7. Data General (DG) - Motorola 88k CPU , and a bunch of others.
Have you ever wondered who they lost (gave away) their market shares to?
And if you carefully analyze the situation, it turns out that their market shares occupied the servers and workstations on the standard IBM PC architecture, with standard (pop) Intel x86 processors, which today compete on equal terms with RISC processors!
And cheap Intel x86 / Linux servers are released by a huge cloud of all firms (mostly Chinese):
1. Hewlett-Packard (HP) [swallowed by Compaq & DEC & Tandem & Convex & Apollo],
2. Dell Inc. ,
3. IBM [may have absorbed Sun Microsystems, absorbed Sequent Computer],
4. Fujitsu [swallowed SNI & Pyramid],
5. Acer [swallowed Gateway & ALR],
6. Lenovo Group [swallowed up by IBM PC Co.],
7. Rackable Systems [swallowed SGI & Intergraph Computer], and others.
Therefore, IBM Power / UNIX has a lot of competitors, a huge amount and HP Itanium / UNIX.
And the main one is not HP at all, but the omnipresent Dell, which at one time won much from the merger of HP & Compaq / DEC and again, it is likely that Dell will benefit from the merger of IBM & Sun, suggesting that Sun customers can transfer to their cheap x86 / Linux server!
Useful articles for thought:
1. "Michael Dell for the merger of IBM and Sun" ,
2. "Server market: x86 rules the ball" ,
3. "HP leads the Russian x86 server market" ,
4. "Acer's share of the personal computer market in 2008 increased to 11% . "
“It is possible that antitrust regulators could interfere with the deal between Sun Microsystems and IBM, as these companies dominate the Unix server segment, occupying 65% of this market.”
But, I wouldn’t be so straightforward to separate the modern market of Unix servers with the proprietary RISC architecture of processors (such as IBM Power, Sun Sparc and HP / Intel Itanium) into a separate and closed market.
There are really only 3 large IBM, Sun and HP companies on the RISC / UNIX market, and after the unification of IBM & Sun, there will be only two competitors: IBM / Power - HP / Itanium (maybe the 3rd will be Fujitsu / Sparc, although I’m I personally think that most likely Fujitsu will be forced to close its Sparc-division).
But note, in history, along with their RISC-architectures, such legendary companies as:
1. Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) - CPU Alpha AXP ,
2. Silicon Graphics (SGI) - CPU MIPS ,
3. Intergraph Computer - CPU Clipper ,
4. Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG (SNI) - CPU MIPS ,
5. Pyramid Technology - MIPS CPU ,
6. Tandem Computers - CPU MIPS ,
7. Data General (DG) - Motorola 88k CPU , and a bunch of others.
Have you ever wondered who they lost (gave away) their market shares to?
And if you carefully analyze the situation, it turns out that their market shares occupied the servers and workstations on the standard IBM PC architecture, with standard (pop) Intel x86 processors, which today compete on equal terms with RISC processors!
And cheap Intel x86 / Linux servers are released by a huge cloud of all firms (mostly Chinese):
1. Hewlett-Packard (HP) [swallowed by Compaq & DEC & Tandem & Convex & Apollo],
2. Dell Inc. ,
3. IBM [may have absorbed Sun Microsystems, absorbed Sequent Computer],
4. Fujitsu [swallowed SNI & Pyramid],
5. Acer [swallowed Gateway & ALR],
6. Lenovo Group [swallowed up by IBM PC Co.],
7. Rackable Systems [swallowed SGI & Intergraph Computer], and others.
Therefore, IBM Power / UNIX has a lot of competitors, a huge amount and HP Itanium / UNIX.
And the main one is not HP at all, but the omnipresent Dell, which at one time won much from the merger of HP & Compaq / DEC and again, it is likely that Dell will benefit from the merger of IBM & Sun, suggesting that Sun customers can transfer to their cheap x86 / Linux server!
Useful articles for thought:
1. "Michael Dell for the merger of IBM and Sun" ,
2. "Server market: x86 rules the ball" ,
3. "HP leads the Russian x86 server market" ,
4. "Acer's share of the personal computer market in 2008 increased to 11% . "
')
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/56437/
All Articles