Back in October, PowerWire.eu urged our readers to take part in a new survey of the IBM i market conducted by HelpSystems.

The reason was simple. Since the i was subsumed by the wider Power Systems brand and midrange publishers both in Europe and the States fell by the wayside, there had been a dearth of hard statistical info about the platform.

HelpSystems was combining forces with our favourite Stateside title, The Four Hundred, and their efforts seemed like the best bet to begin to rectify this state of affairs. Although we were bit late to the game, I’m glad to say that 76 European Power i users filled in the survey.

This might not initially seem like a huge sample but what’s fascinating about these results is how they spread across all industries and most areas of Europe. The result is a compelling snapshot of the state of the i nation this side of the Atlantic. And, because of this spread, the survey shines a light on some significant differences between the European and U.S. markets.

Just one example that had this correspondent slightly stumped concerned regulatory compliance. In discussions over wider business matters like the current TTIP negotiations, Europe is often cast as overly cautious and weighed down by unnecessary regulatory burdens in comparison to the States. Quite the opposite would seem to be the case according to the figures, at least in the minds of the respondents (see below).

More will be revealed when HelpSystems publishes the results of the survey next month with an accompanying white paper written by its vice president of technical services Tom Huntington. You can pre-order a free copy on the HelpSystems website here and PowerWire will have an exclusive look at the European results in full detail next issue.