Linux grows in popularity: Look for industrial-strength Linux in the future

Analyst: Jean Bozman

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Takeaway: Linux is a rapidly growing server OS, and it will soon be fit for almost any industrial use.

IDC's supply-side data shows that the Linux server market is the most rapidly growing segment within the entire worldwide server market.

Linux server sales are growing dramatically, even though the worldwide server market was shrinking in 2002. IDC's worldwide server group reported that revenue for Linux servers grew 26% in the third quarter of 2002, when compared with the year-ago quarter. Then, in the fourth quarter of 2002, we reported that Linux servers grew revenue 41%, compared with the year-ago quarter.

Clearly, the revenue growth for Linux servers is accelerating-but what are the factors that are driving this growth? Why is this happening? And what workloads are most appropriate for Linux server technology, both for technical users and for commercial users?

Linux servers have proven their value during the economic downturn. They are inexpensive to acquire, and the Linux operating system itself costs very little-it is priced below $100 and is available from many Linux distributors worldwide. It's also important to note that all major server vendors now offer Linux servers.

Reliability and uptime for Linux servers are generally good, but many of the Linux servers installed today have only one or two processors-and the systems tend to support simpler workloads than those that run on Unix servers and Microsoft Windows servers.

Flexibility is another key to Linux popularity. It's easy to expand Linux server farms in a flexible fashion. As customers need to add capacity, they can add Linux server building-blocks, to their server farms, or to their Linux clusters.

But, in the light of Geoffrey Moore's book, Crossing the Chasm'-some uses for Linux servers are for early adopters only-while others are for mainstream adopters.

Maintenance and upkeep of Linux servers can be expensive for some sites-especially in cases where custom applications are being developed. Those sites that already have Unix skill-sets in-house may experience slightly lower costs than those that don't.

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