A NEW REALISM GRIPS ADOPTERS OF CLIENT/SERVER, SENTRY STUDY REVEALS.

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 2, 1994-- Sentry Market Research, a leader in demand-side information technology research, today announced that the results of its 4th annual study of client/server computing show that a new sense of realism has captured buyers as they begin to progress in deploying business critical applications in their companies.

The nearly 600 sites responding to the survey sent a clear message that while they are growing increasingly aware of and concerned with the difficulties associated with some of the implementation and operational requirements of client/server computing, they are also moving up the learning curve on the technology itself. Both IS and business unit managers said that the challenges of network administration, configuration management and software development in client/server environments have gotten more difficult over the past year. But, importantly, they also said that other critical issues -- security, staff experience with UNIX and networking, system performance and the stability of the client/server model itself -- had shown improvement.

SMR's study of these buyers' attitudes also shows that buyers are taking a tougher stance on the benefits they expect to flow from the move to client/server. The new realism about what to expect from client/server and when to expect it is reflected in their opinions about enterprise access to data, ease of use, scalability of applications, price/performance improvements and their ability to respond to business changes. In a majority of cases buyers scaled back their expectations, suggesting that early learning curve experience with client/server has tempered attitudes.

"Corporate buyers have reached an important juncture on the road to adopting client/server technology," said William A. Gannon, Jr., vice president of SMR. "Initially, these buyers were focused on the ultimate destination and set their expectations about cost savings, management and flexibility very high. Now, however, they have gotten some experience under their collective belt and have re-set their expectations in view of a journey that will be more arduous than originally perceived."

"But it would be wrong to interpret the research as suggesting that the movement to client/server will be slowed as a result of reaching this critical point in the evolutionary cycle. SMR strongly believes that corporate IT users are committed to fundamentally changing the way they compute and that the adjustment occurring now will help accelerate that change.

"Now, users, and their vendors, must focus on solving the challenges these buyers have pinpointed. Unless they do so, and in relatively short order, this new but delicate sense of confidence that SMR senses could crumble."

SMR's new Client/Server Report, conducted in August and September, also revealed:

o Buyers plan to increase spending on staffing, software, services and platforms by more than 70% over last year.

o Decentralization of purchasing is resulting in fewer "big deals" and an increase in the number of small- and medium-size technology purchases, placing pressure on direct sales efforts of many vendors.

o Forty percent of all expenditures are expected to be earmarked for server and client platform investments, while software will garner 30% of spending.

o The typical site embracing client/server employs products from an average of eight vendors, implementing nearly twice as many client/server products over the past year than in 1993.

o Twenty-two percent say they have implemented business critical applications in a client/server environment in 1994.

SMR expects these trends to continue strongly into 1995, propelled by a substantial wave of funding and a highly motivated corps of business unit, departmental and divisional business managers looking to beat competitors and capture customers. The influence of these business-oriented technology buyers on the pace of client/server technology adoption cannot be overstated.

"In our first study of client/server, conducted back in 1990, over 80% of the respondents worked in traditional central IS settings," said Gannon. "In this year's study, only 59% were in central IS. Clearly, personnel resources are being distributed as quickly as computing power."

These demographic changes, Gannon continued, have resulted in a set of very different buying patterns, attitudes and vendor loyalties. "Understanding these changes is fundamental to building a sound product development and marketing strategy," he added. "Vendors which have sold historically to a particular type of company and buyer will be in for some adjustments themselves. It's time for a new sense of realism to take hold in the vendor community, too."

SMR's new Client/Server Report is available immediately. SMR, an independent demand-side IT research and analysis firm, is a division of Sentry Publishing Co.

CONTACT: Cynthia Reehl

              Sentry Market Research
              [phone]
                      or
              Sallie McGagh
              Clarke & Company
              [phone]