» Linux Foundation Report Linux Adoption Trends: A Survey of Enterprise End Users A Report By The Linux Foundation in Partnership with Yeoman Technologies .................. October 2010 The Linux Foundation http://www.linuxfoundation.org Executive Summary Linux adoption in the enterprise has been accelerating for more than a decade, but details about its use among the world’s largest enterprises are often underreported. Part of the complexity in tracking enterprise Linux use is that simple sales figures don’t tell the real story. Companies can download software on their own, and Linux is not controlled (or marketed) by one vendor. A deeper look is required. The Linux Foundation, in partnership with Yeoman Technology Group, recently conducted a survey of 1,948 Linux users. This invitation-only survey pool was comprised of The Linux Foundation End User Council as well as other companies, organizations and government agencies selected by The Linux Foundation and Yeoman. This paper reports on the findings of that survey, with a focus on the 387 respondents who represent the largest enterprise companies and government agencies, identified as organizations with $500 million or more a year in revenues or greater than 500 employees. The results tell us where Linux is growing and why, as well as where opportunities exist and challenges remain. In short, the survey found that Linux is poised for growth in the coming years; 76.4% of companies are planning to add more Linux servers in the next twelve months. In contrast, only 41.2% of respondents are planning to add Windows servers in the next year, while 43.6% say they will be decreasing or maintaining the number of Windows servers in their organizations over the same time period. And over the next five years, 79.4% of respondents plan on adding more Linux, relative to other operating systems, compared to only 21.3% planning on adding more Microsoft servers in the same period. Linux workloads are also changing, with 60.2% of respondents reporting that they plan to use Linux for more mission-critical workloads than they have in the past. Drivers for Linux adoption have also shifted; while conventional wisdom holds that cost was once the primary driver, this no longer seems to be the case. Technical superiority and security are among the top benefits cited. Other interesting data brought to light by this survey and summarized in the following report include: • Migrations to Linux from Windows are surpassing those from Unix, and 66% of users surveyed say that their Linux deployments are brand new (“greenfield”) deployments. This greenfield market share grab is a good indicator of a platform’s future performance. • Cloud adoption is surprisingly low, with only 26% planning on moving applications/ services to the cloud in the coming 12 months. Not surprisingly, Linux dominates when moving to the cloud, with 70.3% using Linux as their primary cloud platform. • 86.5% of respondents feel Linux continues to improve. • The perception of Linux by management has shifted, with nearly 60% reporting that their CIO Linux Adoption Trends: A Survey of Enterprise End Users 1 sees Linux as more strategic to the organization as compared to three years ago. • These trends are leading companies to increasingly seek Linux IT professionals, with 38.3% of respondents citing a lack of Linux talent as one of their main concerns related to the platform. Admittedly, The Linux Foundation End User Council and other enterprise end users who are motivated to complete a survey from The Linux Foundation are not an unbiased lot. But the organizations’ size, buying power and technical backgrounds – as filtered by The Linux Foundation and Yeoman – certainly make this data worth noting, both for Linux vendors and developers, as well as for their competitors. Linux Vendors Poised for Growth Our survey results show that Linux use is growing in the enterprise and in many cases the growth is coming at Microsoft’s expense. It also shows that Linux is the platform of choice for new application deployments and next-generation computing. A full 79.4% of respondents report that they expect Linux use to increase compared to other operating systems over the next five years. In the next twelve months, 76.4% are planning to add Linux servers. At the same time, 43.6% of these organizations will decrease or hold steady on their number of Windows servers in the next year, while only 41.2% plan to add more. Relative to other operating systems, in the next five years do you think the use of Linux in your company or organization will: Increase 79.4% Stay the same 12% Not sure 6.5% Decrease 2.1% Chart 1 Linux Adoption Trends: A Survey of Enterprise End Users 2 In the next 12 months, what are your organization’s (or division’s) plans for: 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Linux 1.8% 76.4% 13.1% Windows 18.1% 41.2% 25.5% Unix 19.8% 19.5% 39.6% Decrease Increase Stay the same Chart 2 When asked about new Linux deployments, respondents indicate that 66% are for brand new applications/services or “Greenfield” deployments. This is significant since users can choose any platform for new applications. Obviously Linux is a compelling option for new service deployments. For migrations to Linux from other platforms, we were surprised to find that migrations from Windows (36.6%) are surpassing the number of migrations from Unix (31.4%), even though this information runs counter to much of the data released in the market. In the last two years, have your new Linux deployments been: Brand new applications/services, greenfield deployments 66% Migrations from Windows 36.6% Migrations from Unix 31.4% No new Linux deployments 13.5% Chart 3 Even more telling? More than 60% of respondents report that they plan to increase their use of Linux for mission-critical workloads. Linux Adoption Trends: A Survey of Enterprise End Users 3 Relative to other operating systems, how would you describe your planned use of Linux for mission-critical workloads over the next 12 months? We will be using Linux for more mission-critical workloads 60.2% We will not be increasing or decreasing our use of Linux for mission-critical workloads 23.5% Not sure 12.4% We will be using Linux for fewer mission-critical workloads 3.9% Chart 4 Changing Drivers of Linux Adoption What are the real decision factors that are driving Linux adoption? Features and technical superiority top the list. And as you can see from the results, these are closely followed by lower TCO and security. Rounding out the middle are available in-house talent, lack of vendor lock-in, openness and ability to modify code and the long-term viability of the solution. What are your drivers for adopting Linux? Features/technical superiority 67.5% Lower total cost of ownership (TCO) 65.4% Security 64.1% In-house talent experience with Linux 51.8% No vendor lock-in 49.7% Openness, ability to modify code 49.7% Long-term viability of platform 45.8% Choice of software 37.7% Choice of hardware 36.1% Chart 5 Linux Adoption Trends: A Survey of Enterprise End Users 4 Of those who selected other reasons for adoption, some of the comments include: “Linux is the only real choice for high performance computing at the current time. Although other operating systems have products available for high performance computing, they just don’t measure up.” “Freedom, I like to modify and customize my own system and programs.” “The super flexibility of Linux tells it all.” “Stability, no viruses.” “Low cost hardware, security from virus or hacking.” “Reliability - most of our heavy duty production Linux servers have an uptime approaching 1500 days.” We believe this data represents a shift in the purchasing and deployment behaviors of Linux users. Where Linux adoption in the first phase of the Linux build-out centered on cost savings, that no longer appears to be the main driver. As Linux has matured technically, users are now basing their decisions on its technical superiority relative to other platforms. However, it is to be noted that cost certainly is still a factor, with one respondent saying: “Our company is doing away with per-seat software licenses, so Linux is obviously a natural fit for us.” How The Recession Has – And Has Not -- Played a Part While TCO has moved from the primary to secondary adoption driver, it would be hard to talk about any IT trend in the enterprise without talking about the impact of the recent downturn in the economy. In this survey, 40.4% of respondents feel that the recession has caused their enterprise to increase its Linux use. Perhaps surprisingly, though, 58.6% say the recession has had not had an impact on their use of Linux. How has the recession impacted your use of Linux? The recession has had no impact on our use of Linux 58.6% Increased use of Linux 40.4% Decreased use of Linux 1% Chart 6 Most of the users who increased usage due to the economy pointed out key features like the “ability to use less hardware to accomplish the same goals,” the fact that “Linux has a lower cost of ownership than other OS options,” and that customers are driving Linux adoption as they are “looking for opportunities to use more open source/Linux-compatible products.” Linux Adoption Trends: A Survey of Enterprise End Users 5 One respondent made a point of telling us that the level of IT workers’ expertise has increased in the last few years to the point where “training staff [on Linux] has proven to be more cost-effective than purchasing licenses.” Just as interesting are the comments from those who didn’t feel the economy changed their Linux plans.