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Jul. 14, 2010

In India, small and mid-size businesses are increasingly favoring the Linux operating system, according to a new study recently done by Springboard Research.

Springboard says that, between April 2009 and May 2010, overall Linux server OS adoption in India increased to 8.1 percent from just 7 percent and continues to rise.

The report was based on data compiled from 408,756 servers in the country.

On the other hand, the Windows Server platform currently has a little over 91.7 percent share in India's enterprise market, with Windows Server 2003 accounting for 70 percent of adoption.

On average, Linux OS installations in India were highest in the engineering, energy and entertainment industries, noted the Springboard report. Adoption has also picked up in the non-profit, education, government, banking, financial services, insurance and telecom sectors.

Sameer Bhatnagar, senior research analyst at Springboard said in the report "an interesting trend that has gained momentum in the recent past is the SMB demand for customized solutions. Today, large businesses look for products and IT solutions specifically designed to meet their customers' needs. Now Linux and open source solutions certainly offer all that flexibility."

"Additionally, high technical skill availability is one of the key accelerators of greater Linux adoption in India," Bhatnagar added.

The main growth factors for Linux adoption in India were low cost of ownership, perception of fewer security threats, lack of piracy-related issues and a strong online support community, Springboard said.

But Manish Bahl, Springboard's director for India and research operations, noted that despite Linux's strong gains in the SMB market, it is "still only a distant threat" as Microsoft's Windows server platforms continue to monopolize the server OS market in India.

Linux particularly appeals to budget-constraint SMBs seeking technologies that can help them meet their business goals, and all at a lower cost.

Small businesses in India lead their Asia-Pacific peers in server adoption, according to a study released in April. Conducted by Springboard in partnership with Spiceworks, the survey also revealed that Linux adoption in the region registered at almost 26 percent higher than in the U.S. and grew even faster than the global average.

"Overall, many customers are still not convinced of the quality of Linux support for mission-critical business requirements. To make some headway in the large enterprises segment, the priority should be to increase Linux awareness by building an ecosystem of independent software vendors that would support deployment while training partners for better reach," added Bahl.

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Source: Springboard Research.

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