Why sticking with windows xp is a bad idea

IntroductionThe following whitepaper, prepared by IDC , Why Sticking with Windows XP is a Bad Idea, takes a deep look at the operational cost of Windows XP at large organizations and compares and contrasts those costs against operation costs associated with Windows 7. What this whitepaper does not mention is that, along with Windows XP, Microsoft is also ending support for Office 2003.

The termination of support on April 8, 2014, for Windows XP and Office 2003, is looming large for many enterprise organizations, and this deadline has motivated many customers to accelerate their migration activities - both for Windows and Office. An enterprise-wide desktop migration is a serious undertaking and one which requires planning.

Total Desktop Deployment: How Do I Get There?

If your enterprise is planning a total desktop migration or is in the beginning stages of deployment, you are most likely concerned about keeping the project on time and on budget while minimizing the inherent risks, such as file and application incompatibilities.

Our first bit of advice is that you should choose the deployment approach that best fits your business environment. Organizations may choose between a big bang– all departments at the same time, departmental or a phased rollout approach. It all gets down to understanding how your organization functions, what the level of deployment is and what are the right tools and methods to use. Keep in mind that your objective should be to stay on time, on budget, with minimal impact on your users.

There are five critical steps for organizations upgrading that can ensure the success of the deployment process:

1. Plan and discover your environment At this stage, organizations discover and quantify their file and application landscape through automated tools, manual inventory methods or some combination thereof. This way, you will begin to understand the scale of the project, along with identifying areas of potential risks that may affect your deployment strategy.

ConverterTechnology 1 Tara Blvd., Ste.301 Nashua, NH 03062 T 800-541-7409 F 603-882-8884 http://www.convertertechnology.com 1

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2. Scope your projectDo you know which files that are going to be problematic and impact your deployment project timeline and cost? Organizations need to define the quantity of files and applications that require testing and remediation by applying certain filtering criteria such as last used date, frequency of use or allow end user nomination. This process will also help validate assumptions made in the first planning phase. If necessary, this is when organizations can start requesting new funding due to scope changes for the deployment. It is also the best moment to “do housekeeping” and remove the old archived files and rationalize applications that nobody uses anymore, further reducing costs and time.

3. Convert and migrateAt the conversion and migration stage, the vast majority of files and applications can be converted in a bulk fashion. However, the business critical and other at-risk files and applications are promoted to help desk or central service for remediation. This can be a time consuming process getting the files and applications migrated and ready to go to user acceptance training, but automated tools can significantly speed up this process saving time and cost.

4. TestOften overlooked and under-appreciated, testing is a strategic step to making sure that critical applications and files are working properly, as intended. Organizations are advised to go through methodical end user acceptance training with a representative sample set, in order to try to head off any final problems as best they can.

5. Roll outThe roll out or converting to production stage means that all departments in the organization have successfully moved to the new platform, and desktops are converted in full production mode. At this stage, users can still address broken file links, out of scope files and other post-roll out issues.

Automated Desktop Conversions with ConverterTechnologyThrough a partnership with Quest Software Inc., now a part of Dell, customers undertaking full desktop upgrades can expand ConverterTechnology’s file conversion capabilities with greater risk mitigation that includes compatibility assessments of applications across desktop, server, virtual, and web application estates. Customers can automate application testing and remediation, application packaging, and application virtualization conversion to accelerate readiness by finding and fixing compatibility issues in minutes.




Together, ConverterTechnology and Quest automate many of the labor-intensive application and file discovery, testing and conversion functions associated with large-scale migrations, so the process will occur more quickly and with a higher level of reliability and accuracy. By quickly identifying files and applications requiring testing and remediation, ConverterTechnology’s solutions can find and fix problems– saving time and money.

With the addition of solutions from Quest, ConverterTechnology customers gain the added benefit of an experienced implementation partner, while helping them move seamlessly to newer versions of Windows and Office. If your organization is getting ready for a migration contact us. We’ll help minimize the risk and accelerate the deployment.

About ConverterTechnologyConverterTechnology helps enterprises upgrade to new versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office without the risks, costs, productivity loss, and headaches that typically arise from enterprise deployments. By delivering automated software that streamlines migrations along with the expertise to plan, execute, and report on successful enterprise migra-tions, ConverterTechnology helps companies accelerate their time to productivity with the Microsoft platform. Con-verterTechnology is headquartered in Nashua, N.H., with offices in Europe and Australia, and is a wholly-owned subsidi-ary of CPS Group Investments Pty Ltd.






W H I T E P AP E R

M i t i g a t i n g R i s k : W h y S t i c k i n g w i t h W i n d o w s X P I s a B a d I d e a

Sponsored by: Microsoft Corporation

Al Gillen Randy Perry

Nancy Selig

May 2012

I D C O P I N I O N

The termination of extended support for Windows XP SP3, which will happen on

April 8, 2014, is looming large for many enterprise organizations, and this deadline

has motivated many customers to accelerate their migration activities. However, for

some segments of the industry, significantly less effort is being applied to formal

migration initiatives, and Windows XP continues to be perceived as a solution that

works sufficiently for existing needs, whether it is supported or not.

Microsoft has rightfully advocated the standardization of client operating system

(OS) deployments, allowing a more consistent approach to systems and

application management as well as settings and configurations management.

This allows support staff to coalesce its expertise around a single product.

Because of the lengthy life cycle of Windows XP, customers have enjoyed an

unprecedented level of client OS standardization.

Windows XP is two generations behind Microsoft's current product technology

and, in the near future, will be three full generations behind. Combined with the

approaching end of extended support for Windows XP SP3, many customers are

placing themselves at risk if they continue to use Windows XP.

Costs can soar with older PCs and older operating systems. This study found

that for five-year-old PCs running Windows XP, user productivity costs per PC

per year nearly doubled from $177 in year two to $324 in year five, while IT labor

costs per PC per year jumped from $451 in year two to $766 in year five. These

higher costs were caused by a variety of problems, not all directly attributable to

the operating system, but common in older solutions that required IT labor and

help desk support activities. User productivity costs were driven up by higher

levels of downtime caused by security woes, time wasted waiting for help desk

response, and time spent rebooting systems.

IDC's analysis shows that supporting older Windows XP installations, compared

with a modern Windows 7–based solution, saddles organizations with a

dramatically higher cost. Annual cost per PC per year for Windows XP is $870,

while a comparable Windows 7 installation costs $168 per PC per year. That is

an incremental $701 per PC per year for IT and end-user labor costs.

The conclusion is simple: Organizations that continue to retain a Windows XP

environment not only are leaving themselves exposed to security risks and

support challenges but also are wasting budget dollars that would be better used

in modernizing their IT investments.

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M E T H O D O L O G Y

IDC's standard methodology was employed for this project. All of the financial

quantification is based on interviews with companies that have deployed both

Windows XP and Windows 7. This study was built around in-depth interviews with

nine end-user organizations that have deployed both Windows XP and Windows 7.

These interviews were used in aggregate to quantify the financial risks of not

migrating to Windows 7.

IDC bases return-on-investment (ROI) calculations on standard, accepted definitions

and calculations and the following assumptions:

Time values are multiplied by burdened salary to quantify efficiency and manager

productivity savings.

Downtime values are a product of the reduction in downtime hours multiplied by

the number of users affected and their hourly rate.

Because not every hour of downtime equates to a lost hour of productivity, IDC

specifically asks about the percentage impact of an hour of downtime and

attributes a fraction of the hourly result to the dollar savings.

All IT solutions require a deployment period. The full benefits of the solution are

not available during deployment. To capture this reality, IDC prorates the benefits

on a monthly basis based on the average deployment term.

The net present value (NPV) of the three-year savings is calculated by

subtracting the discounted three-year investment from the discounted three-year

benefit. IDC uses an estimated discount rate to account for potential outlays

made at the time of deployment and interest on that investment. Typically,

companies use their cost of capital plus some risk factor.

I N T H I S W H I T E P AP E R

This IDC White Paper takes a deep look at the operational costs of Windows XP at

large organizations and compares and contrasts those costs against operational

costs associated with a current version of Windows — that being Windows 7 in every

customer site interviewed for this study. This study takes into consideration both IT

operational costs and selected end-user operational costs. The paper then

aggregates the costs associated with ongoing support and maintenance and

response to outages and hardware and software failures on the part of IT staff and

calculates the ROI associated with the deployment of Windows 7 to replace aging

Windows XP PCs.

©2012 IDC #234690 3

S I T U AT I O N O V E R V I E W

W h y I t I s T i m e t o R e t i r e W i n d o w s X P

IDC believes that the industry has hit a natural transition point, with both hard and soft

cost justification to upgrade Windows XP installations with a Windows 7 solution.

Some of the reasons are as follows:

New PC capabilities that are not exploited by Windows XP. Most new PCs

have features that were nonexistent, or immature, when service pack

enhancements for Windows XP were discontinued. Today's PCs include features

such as integrated WiFi and Bluetooth, faster USB ports, and high-resolution

monitors and touchscreen capabilities. Many of these capabilities are either

poorly supported or not supported by Windows XP Professional. Further, today,

most PCs ship with a minimum of 4GB of memory, which a typical 32-bit

Windows XP operating system is unable to address. A 64-bit install of Windows 7

allows full exploitation of that memory.

The approaching end of Windows XP SP3 extended support on April 8,

2014. The termination of extended support means the end of security updates,

(paid) hotfix agreement support, and paid per-incident support services.

Lower operational costs. This paper introduces hard data on the support costs

for Windows XP and compares those costs against the support costs for a more

modern solution. Simply stated, older technology has a higher maintenance cost.

This is exacerbated when organizations keep PCs in use for extended periods of

time (beyond a typical three- to four-year life cycle).

Soft benefits. The broad consumerization of IT that is sweeping across the

industry has empowered end users and given them a louder voice in corporate IT

decisions. It is likely that most consumers have experienced a modern user

interface, whether it is Windows 7 or on one of the many rich consumer smart

devices and tablets that are proliferating. IT departments that artificially hold

users hostage aboard old technology solutions are setting the stage for a user

revolt that could lead to a loss of influence by the IT department. By proactively

encouraging the use of modern technology, the IT department is seen as being

interested in improving the productivity of users. End users feel empowered to

accomplish their jobs with modern tools that improve their productivity and

eliminate wasted time resulting from poorly performing old technology,

unnecessary application crashes, and operating system reboots.

Compliance issues. Certain industry-specific regulatory requirements mandate

that software be maintained and kept current with patches and fixes. The

termination of Windows XP extended support means that organizations may find

themselves out of compliance.

4 #234690 ©2012 IDC

T h e W i n d o w s M a r k e t T o d a y

Microsoft has been in command of the client operating system market for 20 years

now. Despite several recent years of robust sales of Apple PCs, Microsoft still

captures 9 out of every 10 client operating system sales in the industry on traditional

x86 PC form factors.

The bigger competition in the PC market continues to be a scenario of Microsoft

working vigorously to replace older versions of Windows operating systems and

related applications, including Microsoft Office. In recent years, the dynamics have

focused on the deployment of Windows 7, displacing Windows XP and, in a minority

of the cases, displacing Windows Vista.

IDC research finds that Windows 7 adoption is going very well for Microsoft, and

Windows 7 (and the successive product, Windows 8) is on a trajectory to capture the

vast majority of new Windows deployments moving forward.

However, shipment volume is only one dimension of the market dynamics, and to

fully understand the challenge that Microsoft faces, one must consider the installed

base view.

Microsoft customers continue to have an enormous installed base of Windows XP

operating systems. As of the end of 2011, Windows XP accounts for a remarkable

42% of the commercial (non-home use) Windows client operating environment

installed base. Therein lies part of the problem that Microsoft and Microsoft's

customers face given the approaching termination of Windows XP extended support.

With the current trajectory, the Windows XP installed base will contract to 11% of paid

commercial Windows client operating systems in use by the end of 2014.

W i n d o w s 8

IDC has not yet broken out Windows 8 shipment projections from the current forecast

totals. However, on traditional PC form factors (desktops, laptops), IDC does not

expect to see any near-term acceleration to current commercial shipment forecasts

associated with the release of Windows 8. IDC notes that traditional IT adoption and

deployment cycles are preceded by a qualification and impact study associated with

any new products, and any impact from Windows 8 on commercial deployments will

not likely be felt before late 2013 or early 2014. In the interim, after the release of

Windows 8, we expect to see customers exercising downgrade deployment rights

with new PCs they acquire that come from OEMs preloaded with Windows 8, which is

common adoption behavior among enterprise IT departments until they fully qualify

and approve the use of a new product.

©2012 IDC #234690 5

F U T U R E O U T L O O K

S t u d y D e m o g r a p h i c s

IDC conducted a study to assess the risk and the cost incurred by organizations that

choose to extend their Windows XP life cycle rather than move forward to a current

Microsoft product. For this study, we conducted in-depth interviews with nine

organizations: four professional services firms, two educational organizations, and

one organization each in construction, government, and petroleum production.

They are large organizations with an average of 3,680 employees, 68 IT staff

members, and 14 PC support staff specialists. In the case of the educational

organizations, the number of PCs supported far exceeded the number of employees

due to transient student populations.

Among the study group, 90% of the end users were categorized as office workers (which

includes students). Another 7% were classified as road warriors, including executive staff

and sales professionals. An additional 3% were classified as work-from-home staff. In

terms of hardware demographics, 54% are desktop users and 39% are laptop users, with

the balance using a collection of other devices, including tablets and other smart devices.

From a platform use perspective, over 90% of the devices in use within the study

group are running Windows, with the overall total split between Windows 7 (65%) and

Windows XP (29%). Four organizations were at 100% with Windows 7 aboard their

Windows PCs, and two organizations were over 93% standardized on Windows XP.

T h e W i n d o w s X P / W i n d o w s 7 D i l e m m a T o d a y

Anecdotal comments from IT professionals at these companies were indicative of the

challenges and opportunities facing the industry.

Justification for upgrading to Windows 7 cited by study participants includes:

Support concerns: "We were concerned that XP would no longer be supported"

Stability benefits: "Creating the most stable platform to give us the capability of

doing offsite mobility much easier then we could have done with XP"

Standardization: "We just wanted to standardize on one OS"

Features of Windows 7: "The security is a lot better," "speed, reliability, flexibility,

ease of use," "ability to virtualize apps," "capability of using DirectAccess as

opposed to VPN apps"

Yet customers that were not upgrading justified their position with adoption blockers

that other customers are likely concerned with:

Stability: "Windows XP has been relatively stable, people are happy, they are

able to do their jobs ... no pressing need to force me to [upgrade]"

Installed hardware: "We need newer hardware; these machines won't take

Windows 7"

Compatibility: "We are afraid that our apps won't be compatible"

6 #234690 ©2012 IDC

T h e C o s t o f S t a y i n g o n W i n d o w s X P

Figure 1 provides a convincing argument for the value associated with updating

operating systems and replacing aging PCs. In particular, as systems pass the 3- to

3.2-year mark, costs begin to accelerate. IT labor costs jump by 25% during year four

of ownership and an additional 29% in year five. User productivity costs suffer as well,

with a 23% jump in year four and a 40% jump during year five. Comparing year five

directly with year two indicates that combined IT labor costs and user productivity

costs are a remarkable 73% higher. This paper explores these cost areas in more

detail in the following sections.

F I G U R E 1

T h e H i g h C o s t o f S u p po r t i n g O l d e r S y s t em s

Source: IDC, 2012

IT Time Costs

Table 1 provides a detailed look at the factors that add to the costs that are illustrated in

Figure 1. There are two aspects to consider in Table 1: the absolute impact of any one

IT productivity metric in terms of hours per PC per year and the magnitude of change

that can be realized by moving to Windows 7. For example, patch management alone

accounts for 49% of the operational activity investment required to continue supporting

a Windows XP environment. Moving to Windows 7 will reduce the time invested in

patch management by 82%. Considered another way, Windows XP requires over five

times more hours per PC per year of patch management than Windows 7.

Collectively, operational activity time required to support PCs shows a 70% reduction

in terms of hours per PC per year for organizations that choose to replace their

Windows XP systems with Windows 7.

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T A B L E 1

A n n u a l I T P r o d u c t i v i t y M e t r i c s ( H o u r s p e r PC p e r Y e a r )

Metric Windows XP Windows 7 Change % Change

Deploying/replacing PCs 0.33 0.11 0.22 66

Security-related activities 0.29 0.19 0.10 35

Maintaining images 0.30 0.13 0.17 57

Deploying applications 0.43 0.12 0.31 72

Patch management 1.5 0.3 1.2 82

User administration 0.20 0.07 0.13 64

Operational activities (subtotal) 3.0 0.9 2.1 70

Downtime 2.9 0.6 2.3 79

Help desk 4.8 0.8 4.0 84

Mitigating malware/viruses 0.60 0.06 0.54 90

Downtime-related activities

(subtotal)

8.3 1.5 6.8 82

Total 11.3 2.3 8.9 79

Source: IDC, 2012

The other dimension detailed in Table 1 is the impact of downtime and responding to

problems that compromise a PC and require IT intervention to restore the system.

The single largest component in downtime-related activities is the help desk

operation, which accounts for 58% of the downtime-related time spent supporting

Windows XP. Not far behind is resolving downtime issues, which accounts for 35% of

the total time spent by IT in supporting Windows XP. Those metrics can be reduced

by 79–84% through a move to Windows 7.

8 #234690 ©2012 IDC

When combined, all IT activities account for 11.3 hours of time spent per PC per year

when using Windows XP. Shops that have moved to Windows 7 enjoy a far lower cost,

spending 2.3 hours per PC per year on maintaining those systems. The cost of staying

with Windows XP is the consumption of an additional 9 hours per PC per year.

One way to rationalize the magnitude of the impact of that high support cost is that for

every 230 PCs an organization supports, the equivalent of one additional full-time

resource (40 hours per week) is required to maintain Windows XP. A move to

Windows 7 frees up an equal number of hours, and for every 230 PCs an

organization upgrades to Windows 7, one full-time equivalent of staff time is freed up

to work on other projects that bring direct value to the business.

End-User Time Costs

One area that can easily be overlooked by IT departments is the rest of the cost to

the business — the impact of problems on end users. Any end user can relate to the

frustration at having a compromised system — whether it is because of a virus

infection, some instability that builds up over time, or in other cases, an accidental

self-inflicted problem caused by users tinkering with their system settings and

configurations. Regardless of the cause, the result is the same: Users are unable to

do their jobs, and the IT team has to come to the rescue.

Table 2 highlights the cost areas that affect end users. One of the two key areas that

most impact end users is the time spent waiting for the help desk to respond to and

mitigate a problem users experience. This area alone accounts for over half of the

annual productive time users lose when working on a Windows XP PC. The other

area is reboot time, which accounts for 28% of the hours per PC per year that end

users lose. Together, those two areas account for 80% of users' lost time.

T A B L E 2

A n n u a l U s e r P r o du c t i v i t y M e t r i c s ( H o u r s p e r P C p e r Y e a r )

Metric Windows XP Windows 7 Change % Change

Time lost to virus or malware attacks 0.6 0.1 0.5 90

Time lost to reimage a PC (result of

virus/malware attacks) 0.01 0.00 0.01 87

Time lost for reboot 2.5 0.2 2.3 94

Downtime 1.1 0.2 0.9 83

Help desk 4.8 0.8 4.0 84

Total 9.0 1.2 7.8 87

Source: IDC, 2012

©2012 IDC #234690 9

For users that have upgraded to a Windows 7 PC, time lost to reboots is virtually

eliminated through a 94% reduction. In addition, because Windows 7 tends to be

more stable and less prone to compromise, the time lost waiting for help desk

response is reduced dramatically, with Windows 7 leading to under an hour of time

per PC per year for end users. Overall, user productivity is dramatically boosted by

Windows 7, while Windows XP users are saddled with 7.8 additional hours of lost

time per year compared with their colleagues using Windows 7.

Key Performance Indicators

Table 3 presents key performance indicators that IT departments will experience

when supporting their existing Windows XP environments compared with a

Windows 7 alternative.

T A B L E 3

U s e r P r o du c t i v i t y K e y P e r f o r m an c e I n d i c a t o r s

Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Windows XP Windows 7 Change % Change

Number of virus or malware attacks per month 84 67 17 20

Mean time to repair (minutes) 222 24 198 89

Time lost to virus or malware attacks per year (hours) 0.6 0.1 0.5 90

Number of reboots per month 5.4 0.7 4.6 86

Average time per reboot (minutes) 4.1 1.4 2.7 66

Time lost for reboot (hours) 2.5 0.2 2.3 94

Failure rate (%) 3.0 1.0 2.0 55

Downtime hours per year 1.1 0.2 0.9 83

Note: Some KPI metrics are cited in minutes, while others are cited in hours or per month.

Source: IDC, 2012

R O I AN A L Y S I S

IDC uses a discounted cash flow methodology to calculate the ROI and payback

period. ROI is the ratio of the NPV and discounted investment. Payback period is the

point at which cumulative benefits equal the initial investment.

Table 4 presents IDC's ROI analysis for the deployment of Windows 7 to replace an

older Windows XP installation. This ROI analysis constitutes a three-year view of the

payback associated with a move from Windows XP to Windows 7.

10 #234690 ©2012 IDC

As shown in Table 4, organizations spent an average of $712 (discounted) per PC to

replace each Windows XP (including hardware and software) and saved $1,685

(discounted) per PC in reduced IT labor support and lost productivity over three

years. The payback period for a new deployment of Windows 7 is calculated at

12 months. The migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 yields a 137% return on

investment over a three-year period.

T A B L E 4

T h r e e - Y ea r R O I A n a l y s i s

Benefit (discounted) $1,685

Investment (discounted) $712

NPV $973

ROI 137%

Payback period 12 months

Discount rate 12%

Source: IDC, 2012

Figure 2 presents the outcome of the ROI analysis in graphical form.

The initial investment includes the average total costs for a fully loaded PC

with Windows 7 offset by the cost to replace the PCs as part of the average

replacement cycle (3.4 years). Annual benefits include reduced IT labor support and

lost productivity.

©2012 IDC #234690 11

F I G U R E 2

R O I A n a l y s i s

Source: IDC, 2012

C H AL L E N G E S / O P P O R T U N I T I E S

Any organization considering a move to a new operating system must take into account

both the challenges and the opportunities. Some key considerations are as follows:

Challenge: It takes money to save money. For organizations to embark on an

upgrade cycle to replace Windows XP with Windows 7 requires confidence and

commitment to take on capital expense (capex) with the presumption that there

will be an operational expense (opex) that returns on that capex investment.

While this study shows a clear benefit and a measurable ROI, for many

organizations, capex costs are far easier to identify and measure than opex cost

reductions.

Opportunity: Cost savings are forever. Once an upgrade is completed, and

the operational costs are lowered, those lower operational cost benefits continue

to accrue into the future with no further direct capex investment.

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Avoided replacement of Windows XP

Net savings

12 #234690 ©2012 IDC

Challenge: Potential compatibility concerns. This study specifically evaluates the

benefit of replacing Windows XP with Windows 7. However, application upgrades (or

at least application compatibility mitigation) may be required as part of the upgrade

process. This ROI analysis does not allow for applications that must be replaced.

Opportunity: Well positioned for the future. Making a move to Windows 7 now

means that organizations are well positioned to embrace Windows 8 aboard new

hardware form factors that will leverage the Windows 8 Metro user interface.

Over time, there may be justification to upgrade Windows 7 PCs with Windows 8,

and all indications at this time are that the move from Windows 7 to Windows 8

will be seamless for applications and nonimpactful to existing hardware.

Opportunity: Standardization. The ability to bring all PCs to a common,

modern operating system leads to greater satisfaction among users and IT

professionals as well as the ability to leverage cutting-edge applications, improve

manageability, and reduce security risks thanks to features such as User

Account Control, Internet Explorer 9, AppLocker, BitLocker, and other features

designed to improve overall security.

C O N C L U S I O N

This IDC White Paper shows clear benefit associated with a move from Windows XP to

Windows 7 and presents a case for the many reasons why remaining with Windows XP is

no longer a good business decision. Costs tend to soar when older products are used

beyond their intended life cycle, and IDC research has clearly confirmed that trend.

Benefits include the ability to reduce operational costs and avoid the need to hire

additional support personnel as well as the opportunity to help users be more

productive and happy in their daily work environments.

The April 8, 2014, termination of extended support for Windows XP SP3 is a firm,

impactful deadline that should be a real wake-up call for organizations of all sizes, but

especially for midsize and large customers.

Given the age of Windows XP, which is now two generations behind Microsoft's

current product technology, the time has come for customers to realistically consider

that they are placing their businesses at risk by continuing to utilize Windows XP.

Organizations that continue to retain a Windows XP environment not only are leaving

themselves exposed to security risks and support challenges but also are wasting

budget dollars that would be better used in modernizing their IT investments.

C o p y r i g h t N o t i c e

External Publication of IDC Information and Data — Any IDC information that is to be

used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written

approval from the appropriate IDC Vice President or Country Manager. A draft of the

proposed document should accompany any such request. IDC reserves the right to

deny approval of external usage for any reason.

Copyright 2012 IDC. Reproduction without written permission is completely forbidden.

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