Advantages of Open Source

For the first time, lowering software costs is not the main advantage enterprises are looking for when using open-source technology. Avoiding vendor lock-in and buying higher quality software are top advantages, too.

The survey found that government/public sector validation is a tipping point, encouraging organizations to use open-source software.

Nearly 75 percent of respondents claimed three-quarters or more of the deployed software in their organizations was open source. That number is expected to rise to 85 percent in five years.

Organizations are increasingly investing in open-source software. In fact, 56 percent of respondents said more than half of software purchases in the next five years will be open source.

The biggest source of revenue in the open-source market today comes from custom development, but in two years, it will be from support and value-added subscriptions. There will also be advertising revenue in two years, as well.

Organizations are less worried about licensing but are more concerned about the lack of formal support. The top barriers are the lack of internal technical skills and general unfamiliarity.

When asked about up and coming open-source companies, some names came up consistently over the past few years. Red Hats popularity remained at the top of the open-source heap from 2009 to 2011.

According to the survey, the biggest opportunities for open source are now in cloud computing, mobile and big data. Thats good news for OpenStack, Android and Hadoop.

Theres extensive activity in the mobile space, as the number of new projects more than doubled in 2010 from 2009. The vast majority of projects target Apple iOS or Google Android.

Over 75 percent of respondents said either software as a service or cloud computing will have the greatest impact on vendors. They are also areas with virtually untapped opportunities for growth.