Microsoft has collected the results from a “Mission Critical Applications” study, which was conducted by IDC, of corporate IT departments to assess current practices towards mission critical applications. The survey gathered data from over 900 enterprise customers across the United States, France, UK, and Germany.
This survey data demonstrates the leadership of the Microsoft platform across several product categories, and provides strong evidence that customers today are betting their businesses on the Microsoft platform and developer tools. You can find a quick summary of the survey methodology and key findings below.
What are “Mission Critical Applications”?
For this survey, mission critical applications are defined as “Business applications, excluding email, that would bring your company to a stop if they were not running. Mission critical applications are typically supported and managed by a central IT staff. Examples of such applications are airline reservation systems and order processing for a retail store chain.”
Key Takeaways
- SQL Server leads (over Oracle) as the #1 database used by enterprises’ primary mission-critical application.
- Windows Server has the #1 server operating system share (52.7 percent) for deployed mission-critical applications.
- Windows Server and .NET are the #1 (54.1 percent) deployed application server.
- .NET usage exceeds Java across all sizes of enterprises.
- Windows Server is the #1 operating system used (46 percent) by deployed mission critical Java applications.
- SharePoint leads (over IBM WebSphere) as the #1 portal used by enterprises’ primary mission-critical application.
- Microsoft leads as the #1 (58.6 percent) vendor for service oriented architectures.
Survey Methodology
- Microsoft did not participate in or influence respondent identification or selection.
- Respondents were screened and interviewed via web and telephone.
- Company size was equal/greater than 1,000 employees (60 percent of respondents from companies of 5,000 or more employees; Median size of company included in study is 6,000 employees).
- Respondent must be IT decision maker, developer, or architect.
- Respondent must have influence on technology-related decisions in their organization.
- Respondent must be materially involved and play a leading role in mission-critical application integration or new application development.
