Linux leadership in China is up for discussion again.
Novell is claiming again that it is the Linux leader in China. This
time the data comes from China-based analyst firm CCID Consulting, which
reported that Novell holds a 25.1 percent revenue share of the China Linux
market.
In August, Novell cited data from IDC, which gave Novell a 32.9 percent market share.
Novell spokesperson Bruce Lowry commented that different analyst houses have
different methodologies and different info sources, which can produce
different outcomes.
“We don’t believe we’ve lost market share,” Lowry told internetnews.com. “In fact, we’ve improved in the CCID Consulting rankings. I’m told that in their last ranking (not sure of timing), we barely cracked
the top five of Linux players in China.”
Novell’s success in China has come on the heels of its new research
and development center, new support facility and the launch of the
openSUSE.org.cn site.
OpenSUSE is Novell’s open Linux development effort and is currently on the verge of its 10.1 release.
“We certainly see China as a country of opportunity for the full range of
Novell’s offerings, whether Linux, identity management or resource
management,” Lowry said. “We’ve definitely made a strong commitment in
China.”
Not to be outdone, Red Hat is also claiming strong growth in China.
“We have strong alliances with education, government and private enterprise
and have spent a great deal of care establishing a strong relationship with
the Chinese market,” Leigh Cantrell Day, Red Hat director of global
corporate communications, told internetnews.com.
“Fedora launched in China
back in November and has been downloaded by hundreds of thousands of users.
We continue to have great success with the adoption of Red Hat Enterprise
Linux.”
Asian-based Linux distributions should not be counted out, either.
Debian-based Sun Wah Linux claimed last October the largest Linux desktop rollout in China.
Sun Wah’s CEO
Alex Banh last year told internetnews.com that his goal was to be the
leading distribution in China.
Turbolinux is also a player to be reckoned with as well. In a recent press
release, Turbolinux cited 2004 IDC data that reportedly give them a nearly 25 percent market share of
the Chinese desktop OS market. In April, they signed
China’s biggest bank representing over 100 million customers.
Turbolinux
has also recently obtained “high-tech innovation funding” from the Chinese
government and expanded availability of Linux in southwest China’s Sichuan
Province.
Then there’s the Oracle-backed Asianux effort, which debuted in August, though it’s currently unclear as to how widespread its
deployment has been to date.
