Why customers are flocking to Linux (page 3 of 3)

"With eServer systems, IBM e-business software and Linux powering our online leasing calculators, we're confident we can deliver the high availability and rapid response time that drives our growing customer base," says Georg Nechvatal, BA-CA software engineer and analyst. "And we know that Linux provides a solid option to support other aspects of our data center.

Total value

Early concerns from customers about Linux were often focused on learning and cost curves for competent administrators and Linux's lack of formal support and documentation—both factors claimed to contribute to an operating system that is costly to operate.

However, the entrance of enterprise Linux distributions from companies such as Novell and Red Hat, combined with other support options from vendors such as IBM, is providing the formal support, albeit at a price, that raw Linux lacked.

Also, the administrator training consideration is lessened by the fact that Linux is built on stable market and UNIX practices-skills that are easy to find in today's IT marketplace. This availability of needed skills is being augmented by the arrival of Linux-skilled university graduates in to the job market.

The Insurance Council of Australia created an automated compliance reporting system based on Linux and consolidated software licensing costs by as much as 90 percent.

Further, the above criticisms appear peripheral when you look at the core issues of Linux value and TCO: hardware choice and flexibility, lower administration costs through improved reliability and security and the reduced cost of operating system licenses.

Customers in turn are increasingly using Linux in conjunction with commercial applications and middleware, and thus getting the best of both worlds with a reliable, secure, low-cost solution. Additionally, a thriving ecosystem of Independent Software Vendors and business partners have grasped the Linux opportunity and are delivering a full range of applications and services.

When Anaconda Sports, one of the largest independent sporting goods dealers in the United States, improved its e-commerce site with IBM DB2 and WebSphere software, it also switched from Microsoft 2000 server to Linux. According to Rob Meyer, director of Internet services, the open system not only "got rid of Microsoft licensing fees, it gave us a more scalable, cost-effective platform for going forward.

The Insurance Council of Australia had a similar license-consolidation experience. They needed a powerful system to meet a host of complex regulatory reporting requirements. Using IBM DB2, Tivoli and WebSphere software, they created an automated compliance reporting system based on Linux and consolidated software licensing costs by as much as 90 percent.

The reason: while traditional software licenses are priced on a per-processor basis, Linux enables a single license to be spread across a number of virtual servers within a single mainframe. The result: as the solution grows, average operating system licensing costs fall.

Future value

The numbers are out there. As the BusinessWeek online article points out, IDC predicts Linux server market share based on unit sales will rise from 24 percent to 33 percent in 2007. A Forrester Research Inc. survey states that 52 percent of business users said they are replacing Windows servers with Linux.

According to IDC findings presented to the Open Source Development Labs, the overall Linux marketplace revenues for server and PC hardware and packaged software on Linux, which includes IBM middleware software, is expected to reach $35.7 billion by 2008.

In fact, packaged software is the fastest growing market segment within the Linux marketplace in terms of revenue, growing 44 percent annually to over $14 billion in 2008. More fuel for hot disputes?

Perhaps, but whether these forecasts prove prescient or not, Linux success did not come because of insightful predictions. Real customers with real IT and business challenges are powering Linux adoption based on real value. Put simply, Linux works.