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BEST PRAC TICES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Open source, including Linux, is being deployed by a majority of companies in 2004, yet we question
whether customers are adequately prepared to deal with the costs and risks of managing these
environments. The allure of free software is accelerating the deployment of open source platforms,
but open source is not free and may actually increase nancial and business risk. Discussions with
ve companies that tracked their total costs indicated Linux was between 5% and 20% more expensive
than Windows. There were two distinct situations where Linux was the clear cost winner: Unix
migrations and Linux-only deployments. Linux, and other open source software can provide big
benets to the organization, however, companies need to know what to expect, and plan appropriately
to mitigate these concerns.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Open Source Hits The Mainstream
Cost Reduction Is The Biggest Driver Of
Open Source Adoption
Keeping Down The Costs Of Open Source
The Risks Of Open Source Are Dierent Than
Commercial Software
Risks Are Unique, But Commonalities Exist
Dealing With Open Source Risks Requires
Knowledge, Planning
RECOMMENDATIONS
Companies Can Mitigate Costs And Risk
Of Open Source
ALTERNATIVE VIEW
Open Source Will Mature
Supplemental Material
NOTES & RESOURCES
Forrester elded an online survey to 140 US
and Canadian companies that belong to the
Forrester Executive Research Panel. Additionally,
we held individual interviews with 14 companies
that installed Linux and have been running the
platform for longer than one year.
Related Research Documents
Open Source Moves Into The Mainstream
March 16, 2004, Trends
Your Open Source Strategy
September 23, 2003, Report
April 12, 2004
The Costs And Risks Of Open Source
Debunking The Myths
by Julie Giera
with Adam Brown
2
7
12
13
14 Best Practices
|
The Costs And Risks Of Open Source
© 2004, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
April 12, 2004
2
OPEN SOURCE HITS THE MAINSTREAM
Forrester conducted a survey of 140 North American companies on their use of open
source platforms in February 2004.
1
We found the adoption of Linux and other open
source components is accelerating in key areas of the enterprise. This year, 60% of those
companies surveyed indicate they have installed, or will install these platforms (see Figure
1). The impact of open source is broader than just the platforms themselves. The rapid
adoption of open source will place further pressure on commercial software providers
that have endured slow license sales for the past three years.
2
The presence of open source
in the enterprise delivers not just the operational benets of the platforms themselves but
can also place the customer in a much stronger negotiating position with its commercial
software providers.
Respondents indicate that the single biggest driver of open source deployment is cost
reduction. Eighty-six percent of rms say low acquisition cost is the major reason for their
open source decisions, followed closely by 77% that say they expect to lower their total cost
of ownership (see Figure 2). But do open source platforms always save a company money?
Cost Reduction Is The Biggest Driver Of Open Source Adoption
Forrester held in-depth discussions with 14 companies that had been running Linux
platforms longer than one year to see what the costs really were. Several key themes
emerged from these in-depth discussions:
·
Few companies know what they are really spending. Fewer than half of the
companies we spoke to had a formal process in place to measure the nancial impact
of their open source choices. Only 5 of 14 had kept detailed metrics and of those
ve companies, Linux was more expensive (5% to 20%) than the current Microsoft
environments. Two of the ve companies said they expected their Linux costs to go
down as they gained more experience.
·
Preparation and planning takes longer with Linux. Virtually all of the companies we
spoke with spent more time in preparation and planning for their Linux deployments
than with comparable Microsoft projects. Only one organization indicated that there
were no appreciable dierences between Linux and Windows in this area. This is
not unexpected, since most of these rms are just beginning to establish operating
procedures and practices for open source for many, their Linux projects served as
the catalyst for this eort. These preparation and planning activities took 5% to 25%
longer for Linux than Windows. This should change, of course, as companies gain
more experience with the platform. Best Practices
|
The Costs And Risks Of Open Source
© 2004, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
April 12, 2004
3
Figure 1 Open Source Is Used By The Majority Of Companies In 2004
·
Training for Linux was more robust, more costly. We discovered that the investments
companies made in training for their IT employees were signicantly higher than for
Linux than Windows on average, 15% more expensive. When we asked why, almost
all 14 organizations cited two basic reasons: 1) training materials for Linux were
less available than for Windows, limiting the choices companies had for courses and
locations, and 2) customers adopted a more conservative approach to training. Since
Linux was new to IT, and would be a production platform, the number of classes per
employee was higher than for Windows. Companies felt that because they already had
several years worth of experience on Windows, they would need to schedule more
training to overcompensate for the lack of internal Linux knowledge.
·
Software spending was lower, but not free. Linux can be obtained through several
vehicles. Customers can go through distributors, such as Red Hat and Novell, to
obtain the code, maintenance, xes, patches, and support. Or they can take on
the code themselves. Its interesting to note that the pricing models being oered
from distributors for maintenance and support closely resemble the models used by
commercial software providers like Microsoft. The cost of software isnt just the cost of
Linux or Windows there still may need to be investments in systems management
and monitoring tools, either direct investments to purchase new products, or
investments to upgrade/deploy Linux support in existing systems management suites.
Even so, for the 14 companies we interviewed software costs for Linux proved to be less
expensive, on a per-server basis, than Windows by at least 60%.
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
Is your company using or planning on using Linux or other
open source software in the next 12 months?
Base: 140 North American rms
No plans
39%
Plan to use
14%
Using today
46%
Source: March 16, 2004, Trends Open Source Moves Into The Mainstream Best Practices
|
The Costs And Risks Of Open Source
© 2004, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
April 12, 2004
4
Figure 2 The Desire To Reduce Cost Drives Adoption Of Open Source
·
The cost of maintenance and support represents the bulk of spending. All ve
companies that had specically tracked the total costs of their Linux deployments said
that maintenance and support were their biggest areas of spend. The testing processes
these companies used for Linux were more involved than for Windows. Companies
told us they wanted to make sure Linux would integrate well with their other platforms
and that application suites would run in both environments. In all ve companies, the
rms chose to obtain maintenance and support from external vendors like Red Hat
and IBM, even though they had made signicant investments in internal IT training.
Although we heard time and again that the frequency of Windows patches due to
security concerns was increasing the costs of supporting that platform, companies
still said Linux was costing them more in this category than Windows. The cost
dierences were mainly isolated to companies that were running Linux in a mixed
operating systems environment, and ranged from 3% to 14% higher than Windows.
One CIO of a large US-based manufacturing company said, We planned pretty well,
we did a lot of training, but testing is taking longer than we expected. Another VP of
a medium-size healthcare organization said, The number of people I have assigned
to Linux is almost double my Windows sta for the same number of servers. Some
of this is learning-curve related, but honestly, this was a surprise. She went on to say,
We think this will get better as we gain more experience, but I didnt expect it. As
Source: Forrester Research, Inc.
Low acquisition cost
Other benet, not mentioned here
Higher quality
Familiar to our developers
Better security
Software choices
Hardware choices
Low total cost of ownership
Low acquisition cost
86%
77%
49%
41%
31%
24%
24%
16%
1%
What benets do you get or expect to get from
Linux and other open source software?
Base: 85 North American rms that use open source software
(multiple responses accepted)
Source: March 16, 2004, Trends Open Source Moves Into The Mainstream Best Practices
|
The Costs And Risks Of Open Source
© 2004, Forrester Research, Inc. Reproduction Prohibited
April 12, 2004
5
companies gain more experience with Linux and other open