33.6% of servers sold in Q4 2005 were Windows servers

The Windows server market continued to show solid growth, with factory revenues increasing by 4.7% YTY. Overall, Windows servers accounted for $4.9 bln in Q4 2005, representing 33.6% of quarterly server market revenue. For all of 2005, Windows server revenues were $17.7 bln, which means that for the first time the Windows server segment modestly exceeded spending for Unix servers as customers deployed more fully configured Windows servers in support of scalable enterprise workloads and server virtualization projects.

Linux servers generated $1.6 bln in quarterly revenue, the 14th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, with YTY revenue growth of 20.8%. For the full year, Linux server revenues were $5.7 bln, placing it in third place for the first time from an operating system perspective as customers continued to expand the role of Linux servers into an increasingly wider array of commercial and technical workloads.

Unix servers experienced a 5.9% decline in factory revenue YTY to $5.0 bln for the quarter with worldwide Unix revenues for the quarter representing 34.3% of overall quarterly factory revenue. For all of 2005, Unix server revenues were $17.5 bln, moving the platform from sole possession of first place from an operating system perspective for the first time in more than a decade, IDC says.