Ever since Windows NT took Microsoft into server operating systems in 1994, many have been keen to write an obituary for Unix. Recent Unix pessimists seized on the rise of Linux to pen fresh farewells, but Unix remains stubbornly alive, as evidenced by the excitement triggered by IBM’s announcement of the Power6 processor.

These are not the last throes of an operating system fighting against the dying of the light. Analyst firm IDC suggests that Unix is now on par with Windows for server revenues in the EMEA region, at 33 percent each. Linux, despite rapid growth, makes up just 12 percent. Mid-range servers outgrew all other categories for the last quarter of 2006.

Mainframes were widely derided as dinosaurs in the 1990s and yet still they remain, having received a new lease of life – along with Unix servers – as demands for centralisation, security and scalability have increased. Similarly, makers of Unix servers may find their time has come again with the current calls for consolidation and virtualisation.