From SMEs to large enterprises, government to corporates, SOHO segment to hi-end workstation market, Linux is making its presence felt in all their IT infrastructure. The marketshare for Linux servers is expected to grow by 13.6% by 2006, while revenue marketshare is expected to grow by 9% by 2007.

The Linux market in India is picking up at varied places like SMBs, large enterprises, government, educational institutions, hi-end workstations, hi-end desktops and even the home segment. Moreover, just like other parts of the world, the Indian industry is also welcoming the open source movement with open arms. Like any other movement, Linux has its pros and cons too. The latter is equally important to create a balance. Vendors supporting Linux strongly believe in its potential. But, vendors like Microsoft have a different story to tell about the open source.

According to industry analyst IDC, Linux server shipments are expected to grow by 28.5% CAGR in 2002-2007 compared to 10.3% CAGR for Windows for the same period. The unit marketshare for Linux servers is expected to grow by 13.6% from 2002-06 compared to a decline of 3.6% for Windows. The revenue marketshare for Linux servers is expected to grow by 9% 2002-07 compared to an increase of 5.4% for Windows. This data clearly showcases the growth of Linux adoption. Vendors like, IBM, Oracle, LG, HP have vociferously announced their support for the penguin.

GROWTH DRIVERS FOR LINUX
There are several aspects that emerged as growth drivers of Linux after talking to various vendors. Ashit Panjwani, Marcom, Novell said, "Reduction in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is among the main drivers fuelling the growth of Linux. It provides the most stable and secure platform to run mission critical applications, this is well accepted in the industry and is a major driver for Linux growth." Other growth drivers are availability of Linux on various hardware platforms and support from major industry players.

“We have experienced 100% growth in Linux business, due to its cost effectiveness and the small size of the market. This growth will continue for another two to three years” Alok Gupta, CEO, Softmart Solutions “Around 75% of home users are opting for Linux and over 50% corporates too are now moving towards this operating system” Shyam Modi, Proprietor, Modi Peripherals

Explaining the main forces behind this change in customer's mindshare and how IBM will tap this potential, Jyothi Satyanathan, Linux Business Manager of IBM said, "Linux offers better security, productivity and most of all, professional service to customers. This is attracting the customers to shift to Linux."

IBM has deployed Linux in over 3,500 servers. Mission-critical applications that run Linux include the IBM website, support of IBM's new $2.5 billion, 300mm chip manufacturing facility, and applications supporting more than 300,000 IBM employees worldwide".

According to Nitin Sethi, Workstation Business Manager of HP, the main reason for Linux's acceptance in the hi-end workstations market, is, "Linux's availability beyond the traditional unix on high cost hardware is acting as a key driver for current market status."

L Gopalakrishnan, Linux Business Manager, Oracle added, "The main advantage that Linux has over other Operating Systems, is that it comes with open source code based support. The clientele of Linux clearly understand the importance of these serviced and are getting shifted towards this open source OS".

“Mission-critical applications that run Linux include the IBM website, support of our new $2.5 billion, 300mm chip manufacturing facility, and applications supporting over 300,000 IBM employees” Jyothi Satyanathan, Linux Business Manager of IBM “The main advantage that Linux has over other OS, is its open source code-based support, and the corporate clientele clearly understand the importance of these services” L Gopalakrishnan, Linux Business Manager, Oracle

Gopalakrishnan also added that the TCO factor is positively affecting the open source market. A customer can save a substantial amount of money by adopting this OS.

However, having a slightly different overview about this is Abhijit Das, Manager Platform Strategies, Microsoft, "As per the data available to me, only 1000 members of the entire open source community can actually do something with the open source code. That means not every one can amend, make changes or develop something from the Linux platform".

He added that vendors supporting the Linux OS are supporting it with closed source tools. "For instance, Oracle supports Linux with its RDBMS which is a closed source software. Similarly, Lotus Notes from IBM and Star Office of SUN support open source being a closed source software," he explained. Having said all this, the fact remains that the market is still attracted towards Linux.

SO FAR, SO GOOD
Commenting about IBM's experiences in the Linux market, Jyothi said, "Working in the Linux business segment everyday, we see tremendous traction generated for Linux. However, Linux does have a unique nature, making it extremely difficult to track with the traditional tracking models. Not being node locked or based on CPU licenses, one can't effectively judge utilization by measuring vendor shipments".

He added that customers can obtain Linux from anywhere, including downloads, and deploy it across various hardware architectures, which is exactly what system administrators and users are doing at many places. Being smooth and effective, Linux has been running in some organizations for over a year now, without the CIO being aware that Linux is used within their setup.

Explaining the current market status of Linux, Ashit said, "Linux is one of the fastest growing Network operating systems". As per IDC, the CAGR till 2006 for Linux shipments worldwide on server side would be around 19% and on the desktop side would be around 44%.

But Abhijit has a slightly different view about this and believes that this could not be the face of the Linux market a few years down the line. Informing about his perspective, Abhijit said, "Earlier, there was a free download version of Linux
that was available to all, but ever since the Linux distribution started, customers will be more conscious while buying it." It is because of this that Linux vendors have now started charging for their service on a yearly basis. Abhijit doesn't think that this will have a positive effect on the Linux market in the future.

He elucidate this with an example. Red Hat had announced their discontinuation of Linux-Version on 30th April 2004, and requested their customers to shift to Linux-Version 3. "They did this as they have discontinued service for version9 and introduced version3, for which they will be charging a fixed amount for service," he noted.

R Manikandan, Deputy GM, Sales and Marketing of IT products at LG described the growth of Linux as, "In a very short time, Linux has become one of the fastest growing operating systems in the IT industry". According to IDC, Linux is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 14% between 2002 and 2007.

Jyothi added, "There are evidences available that show that Linux has become a mainstream technology. Some critical milestones of Linux include, governments across the world committing to Linux, new and emerging software vendors developing on Linux." Other indications include, established ISVs are porting to Linux, widespread use of Linux in universities, development and research labs, major systems vendors are adopting Linux on their platforms and enterprises are also using Linux to run mission-critical applications".

MORE MANPOWER NEEDED
For the success of any technological tool, it is essential to have sufficient manpower to handle it. On this front, Microsoft has a fairly good amount experience. Abhijit said, "Lack of technical manpower to handle Linux is an issue. And by looking at the complexity of this OS, not everyone can understand this. So the acceptance of Linux OS will be limited among the young and average minds of the country. Players like, Red Hat and Novell have to think on this front".

However, Red Hat has started with Red Hat 'Certified Linux Engineer' program. Novell too has introduced a certification program for generating technical manpower to handle Linux.

Informing about Novell's initiative to spread education on Linux, Ashit informed. "Novell has an extensive training program through which we impart sales and technical knowledge to our channel partners. We have already trained more than 500 channel partners on our Linux offerings".

For training on Linux-based applications, Oracle has a multi pronged approach. Gopalakrishnan informed, "We conduct seminars, workshops and continue to educate the customer. The results from this are good."

Manikandan said, "The reliability, stability and ease with which the software can be customized installed and operated is quite appealing to organizations. The fact that many application development and deployment, middleware, server ware and application products are freely available on the platform helps. It is cost-effective too".

Notwithstanding, this can be a strong point, which can only be replied by only vendors like Red Hat and Novell. They can only motivate youngsters to choose Linux for their technical education.

WHO'S GOING FOR IT
Explaining about the segments that are attracted towards Linux, IBM's Jyothi quoted, "Use of Linux is spreading throughout the business world unprecedentedly. In all industries, including telecommunications, petroleum, geophysical sciences, financial services, government, automotive, computer aided engineering and design; the economics of Linux are simply overwhelming".

Talking of Novell's thrust in verticals that are interested in Linux, Ashit said, "Government is the prime mover in embracing Linux. So that would be our major thrust area, other segments which look promising include banking and finance, telecom, manufacturing, BPO".

Moreover, Jyothi also foresees that the low cost alternative of Linux is finding a lot of takers in the SMB segment, and non-metro cities and towns. Today, most businesses investing in IT are looking very hard at the initial capital investment, as well as the on-going maintenance and license fees that vendors charge. Once installed, Linux systems require low maintenance, provide a wide choice of service providers, render restrictive upgrade and maintenance charges irrelevant and thus save money".

However, this also indicates that Linux-based applications are especially important in the SMB space where typically there are few IT personnel in-house. "For those growing enterprises with big dreams, they can be rest assured that when their business takes off, the applications that may be developed on the Linux-on-Intel platform, can be easily moved to other platforms as their requirements grow. This flexibility is advantageous in an e-business environment with its unpredictable transaction volumes," he added.

Unlike others, Manikandan believes that Linux has potential business verticals like SOHO, home segment. Elaborating on this, he said, "The maximum units have been sold to the SOHO segment. Infact, we saw a lot of enthusiasm about Linux in the home segment, as after seeing live demonstration of Linux OS, a lot of customers showed keen interest. Linux is steadily picking up in India in the enterprise segment especially in the government sector. We feel by the end of this year, Linux would make good inroads in other segments like educational institutes and home".

Giving a view about Linux with respect to the hi-end workstations market, Nitin of HP said, "Key technical- workstation verticals are mechanical design, electronic design, research-scientific computing, digital content creation, mathematical programming, software development- led by ISV's abroad. It is felt that all security conscious hi-end customers are now gradually moving towards open source OS".

STRATEGIES TO MOTIVATE
Informing about the initiatives taken by IBM exclusively for the partners to expand Linux presence in the market, Jyothi said, "We have programs available for partners who are ready to go to the market. These include our leaders for Linux program and our NT migration program. They offer co-marketing dollars for demand generation programs, inclusion in our events, linkage to our sales teams and special education offers".

However, describing HP's strategy to promote Linux, Nitin informed, "In technical markets, (workstation (WS): prime markets) customers are very knowledgeable- they need no convincing and go by usage ease and efficiency of the OS to suit their applications". HP is successful in terms of customer support. There are some offerings like, the Linux 7.X versions are available only on HP workstations

As for LG's strategy for pushing Linux, Manikandan said, "We are only into selling Linux-OS based range of PCs. Creating an awareness in the market is the prime need and we are already enacting upon the same." Linux provides a lot of advantages over the alternatives OS's in terms of economy, stability and above all it is open source.

He also added, "We want to stay in close touch with our partners. For Linux, we support them by giving them proper training and encouraging them to sell more Linux products".

As a part of Oracle's strategy to push Linux, Gopalakrishnan informed, "Firstly we adopt Linux OS for ourselves. For example, Oracle's internal e-mail system is all Linux based. We thus share our experiences with customers and so they get convinced. As of now, almost 75% of total servers of Oracle are Linux based. We want to convert all our servers on Linux-based OS".

Expressing the strategies adopted by Novell, Ashit added, "Most of the customers whom we speak to have Linux in their IT roadmap".

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
Commenting on misconceptions as a major challenge that are existing in the market about Linux, Manikandan said, "While the benefits are tangible, there are also some misconceptions that enterprises have with respect to Linux's readiness for the enterprise. They are lack of support, immaturity of products, lack of applications, vendor splintering, security and lack of skills. We have been quite successful in overcoming the misconceptions of the customers in the due course with our well-defined services".

However, the list of challenges for Linux is very big as far as Microsoft's Abhijit's views are concerned.

As per Novell's Ashit's statement, there are some misconceptions about Linux being immature, unreliable, doesn't scale, Linux is only good for departmental web servers and Linux not being widely used need to be ignored. Moreover facts include, Linux is a high-performance, scalable, and reliable operating system, Linux system uptime (intervals between reboots) are often measured in years, somewhat like NetWare, thousands of Linux systems have been/are, clustered to create Linux-based supercomputersvery popular in academia due to low cost and high performance. Other facts include that shows thousands of IT professionals worldwide contributing into the on-going development of Linux."

He also added, "40% of web servers on the Internet are powered by Linux systems. It would take collective industry effort in clearing the misconception about Linux and rightly position it and we are committed to play a significant role in that effort. The growth opportunities which lay ahead of us are tremendous."

THERE'S A PENGUIN ON MY DESKTOP
Linux is set to make quick inroads into the desktop space as well. Commenting on LG's Linux initiative into desktop front, Manikandan said, "We have received quite a positive response from the market. Linux is steadily picking up in the enterprise segment especially in the government sector".

Specially, on the Hi-end workstations segment, Nitin Sethi said, "Linux has done pretty well in the technical markets - workstations specifically. Some of the key segments like electronics design and digital content market has moved very strongly to go onto this OS. 64 bit capabilities are the prime reason for WS ISV's to move to Linux."

Elaborating on Linux's perspective on the desktop front, Ashit added, "Linux at Desktops is a bigger opportunity as it presents tremendous opportunity for organizations to save the costs without compromising on the productivity. One of the major inhibitor is lack of awareness on the capabilities of Linux on the desktop. Partnering with major IHV's and ISV's would also increase the adoption of Linux on the Desktop".

FAIZ ASKARI with inputs from Nelson Johnny from Mumbai and Goldie from Bangalore

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