systems administrators vs. system administrators

[Torsten]

Hi,

What do you think of the compound noun in the following sentence:

The open source technology, adopted by systems administrators, open source channels and ISPs worldwide, was the basis of Cloudmark solutions and of the earliest deployed anti-spam solutions.

To me, systems administrators sounds a bit awkward. What is your take on this?

Thanks,
Torsten

TOEIC listening, photographs: A smiling girl

[Mister Micawber]

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Somewhere I've had this conversation before. It doesn't offend me. Usually the first noun of a compound noun is singular, but there are a number of exceptions (none of which springs to mind at the moment).

Our friend Wikipedia says 'A system administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin, is a person employed to maintain, and operate a computer system or network. System administrators may be members of an information technology department', but most dictionaries have system in the singular.
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Native English teacher at Mister Micawber's

[Sunflower.baby]

In my opinion, "system administrator" sounds like a genernal job.

When saying "systems administrator" is to emphasize the one has some kind of specical skills about system administrations, can operate plenty of systems, have ability to do some system trouble-shooting if there is any problem.

Correct me if there is any wrong! ;-)