Apache Server Usage Soars

Use of the open-source Apache Web server grew far more rapidly in 2003 than its nearest rival, Microsoft's IIS, according to a survey released by the U.K.-based Web metrics firm Netcraft Monday.

From December 2002 to January 2004, an additional nine million Web sites used Apache to deliver Web pages, said Netcraft's numbers, while IIS remained relatively flat.

In December 2002, Apache accounted for approximately 22 million of the 35 million total sites; the most recent Netcraft survey tagged Apache in use on some 31 million sites out of a total of 46 million. The increase in raw numbers -- about 40 percent -- beat out IIS by a wide margin. In the same period IIS use actually fell by some 54,000 sites.

While the absolute numbers of sites relying on Apache climbed dramatically, its market share increased just a few percentage points, from 62 percent at the beginning of 2003 to about 67 percent by the end. IIS's share of the Web server pie, meanwhile, dropped from 29 percent to 21 percent.