Linux Foundation's Enterprise Study Shows Linux on the Rise in the Cloud

The Linux Foundation is out today with its latest report, titled "Linux Adoption Trends 2012: A Survey of Enterprise End Users." It shares lots of new data on how enterprises are using Linux, and it shouldn't come as a surprise that Linux figures strongly in many enterprise cloud computing strategies. In fact, 2012 is shaping up to be a banner year for Linux in the cloud. The report delves into some other enterprise Linux trends too, including Big Data deployments and "greenfield" deployments.

The Linux Foundation has its own Enterprise End User Council, and the survey for the latest report is based on responses from the council and from various businesses and organizations. According to the foundation, "[the report] filters the data to surface trends among the world’s largest enterprise companies and government organizations – identified by 428 respondents at organizations with $500 million or more in annual revenues or greater than 500 employees."

These are among key findings from the survey:

* Even as IT spending forecasts remain soft, enterprise users are adding more Linux:
Eight out of ten respondents say that they have both added Linux servers in the last 12 months and plan to add more in the next 12 months, with the same number planning to add more Linux in the next five years. Only 21.7% of respondents are planning an increase in Windows servers during that same period (next five years).
* More than 75% of respondents expressed concern about supporting "Big Data," and nearly 72% are choosing Linux to support it:
Most enterprises expressed concern with the rapid growth of data, and Linux is clearly the platform of choice to address it. Only 35.9% are planning to use Windows to meet the demands of this new environment.
* Linux users see fewer issue impeding the operating system's success, with technical issues cited among respondents dropping 40% from last year's report: Technical issues cited by Linux users dropped 40%, from 20.3% in 2010 to 12.2% today. Twenty-two percent fewer respondents cite perception by management as an issue, and 10% fewer say there are no issues at all impeding the success of Linux.
* The largest collaborative development project gains more contributions from enterprise users: This year's survey surfaced a nearly 12-point increase in those participating in Linux Foundation activities, an 8-point increase among respondents who are working on code, and a 5-point increase in those who are testing submitting bugs.
* TCO, feature set and overall security top Linux benefits: More than two-thirds of respondents consider Linux to be more secure than other operating systems.

Without a doubt, Linux is succeeding at the server level and in the cloud. As TechNewsWorld has noted:

"Linux and accompanying open source software will continue to dominate cloud computing, whether through the top enterprise Linux server vendors increasingly focusing on the cloud; other cloud OS options that may leverage Linux; virtual Linux or machine images on any number of private or public cloud options; or the use of unpaid community Linux. Linux and other open source software underpins nearly all cloud computing offerings, whether Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), PaaS, public cloud or private cloud."

It's also interesting to see that Linux is playing a role in enterprise "Big Data" strategies, where companies and organizations are increasingly interested in sifting large data sets in flexible ways. There is much more data in the foundation's report, which you can download in its entirety here.