The fact that the Microsoft Internet Information Services 6 Web Server (IIS 6) has overtaken Apache and their open source web server should be regarded with at least a minimal amount of skepticism as it is the conclusion of a survey performed by Port80 Software, a Microsoft Certified Partner. More so when the fact that only a limited market segment was involved in the study, namely the public Web sites of Fortune 1000 companies, is taken into consideration.

"The Microsoft Internet Information Services 6 Web server (IIS 6) passed Apache, the popular open source Web server, for the first time. With 27.0% market share, IIS 6 penetration has more than doubled in the past year and will soon overcome IIS 5 to be the most widely deployed Fortune 1000 Web server. Overall, IIS 4, 5, and 6 deployments continue to lead with a combined 54.9% share of all Fortune 1000 corporate sites versus Apache's 23.3% share," revealed Port80 Software.

"We believe that IIS with ASP.NET is the most secure, reliable, and scalable Web server environment on the market, and that's evidenced by the large enterprises of the Fortune 1000 who are betting their businesses on it," said Brian Goldfarb, group product manager of the Web Platform and Tools Marketing Group at Microsoft Corp.

Pushed by the wide deployment of IIS 5 and 6, Microsoft ASP.NET application server environments have also experienced an increase in prominence, finding their way on 48.4% of Fortune 1000 sites.

"The rapid adoption of IIS 6 among Fortune 1000 companies underscores Microsoft's leadership in the corporate market," said Joseph Lima, Director of Product Development at Port80 Software. "Our company is fully focused on developing the best software solutions to secure, accelerate, and enhance Microsoft's Web platform."