Apple Workgroup Servers Clear Winners in World Wide Web Server Cost of Ownership Study

Apple Workgroup Servers Clear Winners in World Wide Web Server Cost of Ownership Study

PR Newswire

October 22, 1997

Study Reveals Apple Web Servers Exhibit Lowest Cost of Ownership, and Are

Easiest to Use for Small to Medium-sized Organizations and Workgroups

CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), revealed today that its workgroup servers offer a considerable advantage in overall cost-of-ownership, ease-of-use and maintenance for customers in small business or workgroups according to a study released by the Business Research Group (BRG, Newton, Mass). Unlike previous studies of web server ease-of-implementation and cost-of-ownership, this study examined the medium-size business market (100-499 employees), and in workgroups (150 or fewer employees) within larger enterprises (500 or more employees).

According to Cheryl Ball, director of Research for BRG, the target study was chosen because up until now, this important part of the Internet market has been ignored. "This study found that medium-sized organizations, because of their size and relative lack of computer support resources, have very different needs and values in their web server purchases than their larger Fortune 1000 counterparts," said Ball. "Most cost-of-ownership studies look at Fortune 500 companies and their needs and decide that workgroups and mid-size businesses just need a scaled-down version. This study indicates this is simply not the case."

BRG studied organizations deploying web servers running Netscape Fastrack for UNIX, Microsoft Internet Information Server for Windows NT, O'Reilly Website software for Windows 95 and StarNine's WebSTAR server software running on a Mac OS-based workgroup server from Apple (the Apple Internet Server Solution). The study consisted of telephone interviews with 277 U.S.-based webserver managers.

Results of the study indicate that Apple offers advantages in four key areas:

Ease-of-use and maintenance

Overall cost-of-ownership

Apple web servers are used more extensively than the competition

Server capacity is not an issue in this size of group

Bill McGlasson, Apple's product manager for servers explained, "The findings in BRG's study are significant because this market represents the fastest-growing market for worldwide web server purchases," said McGlasson. "There is a built-in bias towards considering the Fortune 1000 as the defining market segment for all computing. The assumption seems to be that whatever Fortune 1000 companies need, everybody else needs too. This study indicates that is not the case and that Apple technology is a key enabler in providing a compelling Internet presence for small businesses and workgroups in the enterprise."

Results of the study have been compiled into a whitepaper and can be accessed on the world wide web http://applenet.apple.com/text/server_study.html.

Apple Computer, Inc. ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II, and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is now recommitted to its original mission -- to bring the best personal computing products and support to students, educators, designers, scientists, engineers, businesspersons, and consumers in over 140 countries around the world.

NOTE: Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Mac OS, and AISS are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the individual companies and are respectfully acknowledged.

                           Summary of Key Findings 

Business Research Group World Wide Web Server Cost of Ownership Study

Oct. 22, 1997

Apple web servers provide a significantly lower total cost-of-ownership than the competing servers, based on the following factors: lower initial costs; lower installation costs; lower content creation costs per page; lower total outside services costs; lower server management costs; lower peer training and online help costs. These advantages led to a cumulative Apple server cost advantages over the other servers considered in the study: as high as 300 percent per internal user, 144 percent per server and 158 percent per web page.

- Initial System's price: Per server, Apple users spent 205 percent less than Netscape, 93 percent less than O'Reilly and 66 percent less than Microsoft.

- Installation costs: Overall, Apple and O'Reilly both have a 72 percent cost advantage relative to Netscape and a 37 percent cost advantage relative to Microsoft.

- Outside Services Costs: Apple's cost advantage in this area ranged from 102 percent to 151 percent less than the competition. In general, these costs consisted of expenses incurred for training and installation/systems integration.

Apple customers gave Apple's web servers higher overall approval ratings than the other groups surveyed gave their respective web servers for their performance in the following two areas:

1. Ease-of-implementation (as evidenced by simplicity of hardware setup and software installation)97/

2. Ease-of-management

For the server environments that fall within the scope of the study, Apple's web server sites are the largest, exhibiting the following characteristics:

1. More web pages

2. More internal users

3. More servers

4. The second largest number of hits per day.

SOURCE Apple Computer, Inc.