From a comparatively late start, the Spanish government has rapidly taken Unix to its heart, a fact emphatically underlined by 1989 government-produced statistics showing that Unix accounts for 57% by value of new systems purchased. The figures show that central government agencies bought over 2,500 Unix systems, an increase of some 900% over the mere 220 bought in 1988, reflecting the implementation of several large-scale Unix based projects. Expenditure on Unix hardware increased 145% to $62.3m over the same period, with system and applications software bringing the total up to $74m. The entire Spanish Unix market including the private sector grew 42% in 1989, and is expected to grow 41% in 1990. Victor De Loyola, sub-director general for data processing coordination in the Spanish public administrations, said that it is used for new technical and scientific systems of all sizes, small-to-medium management and business systems, and workstations. Speaking at the recent Convention Unix 90 in Paris, he added that exceptions to the policy include extensions to existing projects, and projects initiated before the policy came into effect. De Loyola noted that the Government asked for X/Open conformance in a standard clause used in procurement specifications, with System V Interface Definition conformance a subsidiary requirement. In 1989, projects handled by the Ministry of Employment accounted for nearly half the number and value of systems bought. De Loyola also outlined a range of other projects under the Ministries of Justice, Health (hospital systems), Finance, Interior (civil guard), and Culture (provincial libraries). Nixdorf won the honour of being leading supplier to the government last year, picking up 38% of business by number of systems, 39% by value. Hewlett-Packard was the runner up in terms of value of systems, closely followed by Unisys and Bull; in unit ships Bull was a clear second with 28%. Britain’s ICL also showed with 14% of unit shipments. Overall, the great majority of government money is being spent on small multi-user systems, with Unix accounting for the vast majority of the systems in this category, although, according to the government figures, only 60%-odd by value.
