3 April 2002 Microsoft has substantially increased its share of the web server market in 2002, according to UK-based Internet consultancy Netcraft.

In its monthly survey of more than 38 million Internet-connected servers, Netcraft reported that Microsoft’s share of the web server market had risen in March by nearly two million to 12.9 million computers, or 34% of the market.

Conversely, Apache web servers running on Linux dropped 4.67% to 53.8% of the total market, while iPlanet software from Sun Microsystems, lost 0.59% and is left with 2.33% of the market. The rest is comprised of niche packages such as Zeus Technologies, which is challenging iPlanet for third place, AOLServer and the ageing NCSA web server.

Netcraft has attributed the increase in popularity of Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS) to a transfer of domain name ‘parking’ systems by two large Internet domain services vendors: Register.com and Network Solutions. These registrars use Internet-servers to store domain names while the sites are under development.

Network Solutions has been running part of its domain parking system on Windows 2000 for some time and has been moving progressively more of its sites from a Solaris system at web hosting services provider Digex, to a Windows 2000-based system at rival Interland, says Netcraft. Several hundred thousand sites were moved to Microsoft IIS in March largely a result of this.

Similarly, Register.com is part of the way through a migration to Windows from Linux-based systems, says Netcraft.