Linux Ecosystem Revenue to Near $50 Billion by 2011

Linux have a bright hereafter in the concern world, according to an achromatic paper sponsored by the and released Tuesday. By 2011, outgoes on Linux-based hardware, software system and related to services will attain US$49 billion, more than than dual 2007's figure of $21 billion, according to the study's authors. The growth, they said, will be driven by endeavor deployments.

While the Linux platform's current share of entire software system gross now stand ups at 4 percentage of the industry's sum $242 billion, IDC anticipates that share to increase to 9 percentage by 2011, when Linux-related software gross volition attain $31 billion in a sum marketplace that will turn to $330 billion.

"IDC is predicting that the Linux ecosystem will turn to $49 billion by 2011, and the gross associated with the Linux operating environment is a bantam part of that ecosystem," Brett Waldman, an IDC analyst and joint author of the achromatic paper, told LinuxInsider.

From Infrastructure to Business

Although Linux waiter operating environments (SOEs) were once made up primarily of Web and basic substructure deployments 10 old age ago, more than recent volume deployments have got expanded the range to include other basic workload deployments.

Business processing deployments including database, endeavor resource planning , determination support and general concern processing have got increased steadily in footing of their share of entire workload deployments, IDC analysts found. They grew from 6.6 percentage of new Linux deployments in 2003 to 8.2 percentage in 2007. Similarly, determination support also saw growth, increasing to 9.1 percentage in 2007 from 7.3 percentage in 2003.

"IDC believes that systems integrating activities stand for the biggest chance for Linux and unfastened beginning services, as Linux workloads displacement from infrastructure-oriented workloads to more than mainstream business-oriented workloads," Waldman said.

The migration from existing Unix deployments to Linux for the most portion looks to account for the growing of Linux as a platform for business-oriented workloads in combination with an "organic growth" of the deployments in these same workload areas, IDC found. A Unix Migration

One of import enabler behind the growth acceptance of Linux have been the move away from Unix on higher-cost RISC (reduced direction set computing) chopine to Linux on lower-cost industry criterion x86 platforms, according to IDC.

Among those more than likely to transmigrate from existing Unix waiters to Linux are "users in verticals such as as government, fiscal services and general services," the reported stated. Industries outside these countries are less liable to take Linux to replace Unix with Linux but stay friendly to it as an option solution.

As such, (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Windows will go on to "present a important long-term challenge for Linux," with Windows service-oriented enterprise deployment-related software system system revenue, including XP and View client operating revenue, totaling $127 billion in 2007, some 53 percentage of the worldwide software market.

Although Microsoft's super-sized installed alkali will go on as the biggest of any SOE, IDC anticipates that Microsoft will vie for Unix migration opportunities.

"Linux is not likely to directly replace a Windows SOE. But both Linux and Windows will go on to vie vigorously for greenfield opportunities," Waldman noted.