Linux adoption boosted by downturn

Majority of firms looking to accelerate Linux adoption as recession bites

Linux adoption has increased during the economic downturn

The economic downturn is fuelling growth of the Linux market, according to a poll conducted by IDC last month.

The research - which was sponsored by SUSE Linux owner Novell - found that more than half of the 300 IT executives surveyed planned to accelerate Linux adoption.

More than two-thirds (68 per cent) said they are either evaluating or have already decided to increase Linux adoption for the desktop. The equivalent figure for servers was even higher, at 72 per cent.

In addition, 40 per cent indicated they plan to deploy additional workloads on Linux over the next 12-24 months and 49 per cent said Linux will be their primary server platform within five years.

Al Gillen, programme vice president of system software at IDC, said: “Economic downturns have the tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions and punish solutions that are not cost competitive.

“This survey confirms that Linux users view it favourably, and this view places Linux in a competitive position to emerge from this downturn as a stronger solution.”

The global poll was of organisations with more than 100 employees. Over half (55 per cent) had Linux server operating systems in use, 39 per cent had Unix server operating systems in use, and 97 per cent had Windows server operating systems in use.

Markus Rex, general manager and senior vice president for Open Platform Solutions at Novell, said: “The feedback gleaned from this market survey confirms our belief that, as organisations fight to cut costs and find value in this tough economic climate, Linux adoption will accelerate.”