New Linux Foundation User Survey Shows Enterprise Linux to Achieve Significant Gains

New Linux Foundation User Survey Shows Enterprise Linux to Achieve Significant Gains

Data reveals that the world’s largest enterprises will add more Linux at the expense of Windows over the next five years

THE LINUX FOUNDATION END USER SUMMIT, October 12, 2010 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, today published “Linux Adoption Trends: A Survey of Enterprise End Users,” which shares new data showing Linux is poised to take significant market share from Unix and Windows, is becoming more mission critical in the enterprise and more strategic to the CIO.

The data in the report reflects the results of an invitation-only survey of The Linux Foundation’s Enterprise End User Council as well as other companies and government organizations. The survey was conducted by The Linux Foundation in partnership with Yeoman Technology Group during August and September 2010 and received responses from more than 1900 individuals.

This report filters the data to surface trends among the world’s largest enterprise companies and government organizations – identified by 387 respondents at organizations with $500 million or more a year in revenues or greater than 500 employees.

The data shows that Linux vendors are poised for growth in the years to come as large Linux users plan to both deploy more Linux relative to other operating systems and to use the OS for more mission critical workloads than ever before. Linux is also becoming the preferred platform for new/”greenfield” deployments, representing a major shift in user patterns as IT managers break away from legacy systems.

Key Findings from the Report
• 79.4 percent of companies are adding more Linux relative to other operating systems in the next five years.

• More people are reporting that their Linux deployments are migrations from Windows than any other platform, including Unix migrations. 66 percent of users surveyed say that their Linux deployments are brand new (“Greenfield”) deployments.

• Among the early adopters who are operating in cloud environments, 70.3 percent use Linux as their primary platform, while only 18.3 percent use Windows.

• 60.2 percent of respondents say they will use Linux for more mission-critical workloads over the next 12 months.

• 86.5 percent of respondents report that Linux is improving and 58.4 percent say their CIOs see Linux as more strategic to the organization as compared to three years ago.

• Drivers for Linux adoption extend beyond cost: technical superiority is the primary driver, followed by cost and then security.

• The growth in Linux, as demonstrated by this report, is leading companies to increasingly seek Linux IT professionals, with 38.3 percent of respondents citing a lack of Linux talent as one of their main concerns related to the platform.

• Users participate in Linux development in three primary ways: testing and submitting bugs (37.5 percent), working with vendors (30.7 percent) and participating in The Linux Foundation activities (26.0 percent).

“The Linux Foundation strives to be a resource for Linux research and information both for our members and for Linux users worldwide. We feel it’s important to ask the people who use Linux in the enterprise directly about their use and perceptions of Linux so we can continue to improve the platform,” said Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at The Linux Foundation. “The IT professionals we surveyed for the Linux Adoption Trends report are among the world’s most advanced Linux users working at the largest enterprise companies and illustrate what we can expect from the market in the months and years ahead.”

To download the full report, please visit The Linux Foundation Publications site.

About The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux. Founded in 2007, the Linux Foundation sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and is supported by leading Linux and open source companies and developers from around the world. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by hosting important workgroups, events such as LinuxCon, and online resources such as Linux.com. For more information, please visit www.linuxfoundation.org or follow the organization on Twitter.
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