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The Fragmented State of Unix: A Battle for Departmental Application Server Market Share

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

As Novell prepares to launch UnixWare 2.0, a new version of its Unix-based operating system, the company is pushing forward with plans to integrate both Netware and Unixware code into a single, unified product. The latest release, expected at the end of the year, will support up to eight processors, with a target of 32 processors in the future. However, with SCO Unix already offering multiprocessing support for 32 processors, Novell is facing stiff competition in the departmental application server market.

Key Takeaways:

  • Novell plans to integrate Netware and Unixware code into a single product, dubbed SuperNOS, with UnixWare 2.0 serving as the starting point.
  • The initial release of UnixWare 2.0 will support up to eight processors, with the goal of increasing this to 32 processors in the future.
  • SCO Unix has already offered multiprocessing support for 32 processors for three years and expects this number to grow rapidly.
  • Steve McWhirter, general manager of SCO in Australia, estimates that 25% of SCO's installed base in the country uses multiprocessor code.
  • Microsoft's Windows NT is a key competitor in the departmental application server market, with its BackOffice suite offering aggressive marketing, multi-platform and multi-processing support.
  • Novell has struggled to sell and support UnixWare, with only 50 out of 1800 Certified Netware Engineers (CNEs) in Australia receiving UnixWare certification.
  • SCO has become dominant in the Intel-based Unix application server market by selling over half of its product through value-added-resellers (VARs).

Statistics:

  • 25% of SCO's installed base in Australia uses multiprocessor code (Source: Steve McWhirter, general manager of SCO in Australia)
  • 1800:CNEs in Australia (Source: Original text)
  • 50 CNEs in Australia have received UnixWare certification (Source: Original text)
  • SCO sells over half of its product through value-added-resellers (VARs) (Source: Original text)

Sources:

  • Thom Cookes, "A satirical piece doing the rounds of the Internet some time ago likened different Unix flavors to young people modifying their cars." (Original text)
  • Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft (Mentioned but no specific quote or reference)
  • Steve McWhirter, general manager of SCO in Australia (Original text)
  • Bob Frankenburg, CEO and president of Novell (Original text)
  • SCO Unix, SCO, Windows NT, Microsoft, UnixWare, Novell (All mentioned in the original text)

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