Survey: Microsoft IIS 6 Ahead of Apache

Port80 Software, a Microsoft partner, has released a new survey showing that the Microsoft Internet Information Services 6 Web server has overtaken the Apache open-source Web server among Fortune 1000 Web sites.

In the survey released on Oct. 11, Port80 Software said IIS 6 more than doubled its market share over the last year, to 27 percent. However, IIS 5 remains the most popular Web server among Fortune 1000 users, according to the survey.

Meanwhile, Port80 Software said IIS 4, 5, and 6 deployments combine for a 54.9 percent share of all Fortune 1000 corporate sites versus Apache’s 23.3 percent share.

“The rapid adoption of IIS 6 among Fortune 1000 companies underscores Microsoft’s leadership in the corporate market,” Joseph Lima, director of product development at San Diego-based Port80 Software, said in a statement.

Click here to read about Microsoft’s progress in IIS 6 security.

Lima said Port80, which develops tools and extensions for Microsoft’s IIS Web servers, will offer compatible versions of its products in 2007 to take advantage of the new extensibility model in IIS 7 on Windows Server “Longhorn,” the successor to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2.

Brian Goldfarb, group product manager of the Microsoft Web Platform and Tools Marketing Group, said in a statement, “As part of the upcoming Windows Server ‘Longhorn’ launch, Microsoft will deliver even more value with the release of IIS 7. This new Web server is designed for industry partners such as Port80 Software to develop more powerful modules, extending IIS functionality for our shared customers.”

Click here to read about the Apache Software Foundation’s Geronimo 1.0 Java application server.

The Port80 survey also showed that Microsoft ASP.Net application server environments are used on 48.4 percent of Fortune 1000 sites.

Other platforms, including Java application server environments like IBM’s WebSphere, BEA Systems’s WebLogic, Sun Microsystems’ JSP (JavaServer Pages), the open-source Tomcat platform, and technologies such as PHP and ColdFusion all combined to account for only 21.2 percent of Fortune 1000 site deployments, the survey said.

Port80’s most recent and other surveys going back to 2003 can be found here.

Check out eWEEK.com’s for the latest news, views and analysis on servers, switches and networking protocols for the enterprise and small businesses.