Comparing Linux with Windows and Solaris

It has also come under attack by opponents, who have cast doubt on the cost savings realized by deploying Linux.

In an effort to provide accurate TCO data to enterprise IT executives, RFG performed a quantitative analysis to highlight current operating system experiences in the enterprise.

RFG contacted key buyers and IT decision makers across a range of industries, evaluated their level of satisfaction with each operating system, and performed a TCO analysis incorporating their cost data.

Because it would be difficult, if not impossible, to evaluate every possible application stack in a single study, RFG examined an application infrastructure layer common to most enterprises - application servers.

The application server is a critical infrastructure component for many companies, and thus represents an ideal target for operating system selection.

Specific workload profile

Because the specific workload profile will have a dramatic impact on the variance in TCO, RFG recommends doing any work analysis this way. IT users should treat with skepticism any studies that do not make such workload distinctions.

RFG has performed several TCO studies in the last 3 years, and thus has a view into how costs have shifted as Linux adoption rates have increased. As Linux has matured, the TCO gap between Linux and Microsoft Windows has narrowed for two reasons.

First, commercial product vendors have introduced lower-priced offerings in an attempt to compete with Linux. Second, Linux buyers now treat the platform as they would a commercial product, purchasing the same support offerings, management tools, and other facilities that they would on any other platform.

Major vendors now offer a broad array of Linux support options, and most customers make use of these offerings. That said, there is still a significant spread between Linux and the other operating system choices.

Linux much cheaper

Linux is 40 percent less expensive than a comparable x86-based Windows solution and 54 percent less than a comparable SPARC-based Solaris solution, based on a 3-year period of ownership for a system supporting 100,000 operations per second on the SPECjbb benchmark.

In addition, the focus on Linux has largely shifted from raw cost factors to a range of financial and other benefits, such as administrator skill portability, hardware architecture portability, and vendor diversity.

These benefits increase the IT department's ability to quickly and costeffectively meet future workload demands and business challenges.

Beyond TCO reductions, study participants quoted a range of financial and strategic benefits realized by deploying Linux, including its flexible licensing model, wide range of supported hardware platforms, the choice of support providers, and fast administrator skill set transfer from other Unix platforms.

Buyers still appreciate the potential TCO reductions Linux can yield, and this remains an important selection criterion.

However, IT decision makers are continually challenged to make their IT infrastructures more flexible and agile. RFG found most participants eager to capitalize on the long-term strategic benefits Linux provides to their organizations.