Organisation's see more to Open Source than just cost savings

Thanks to your support we received more than 1,600 responses from approximately 1,000 organisations across ANZ.

The research shows that 96 per cent of respondents are using Open Source software in their organisations. And 44 per cent have plans to increase their usage within 18 months.

With the current economic slowdown many businesses are driven by cost savings (45 per cent). However, a significant number of respondents are driven by the ability to use innovative technology (32 per cent) and the ability to collaborate with others (14 per cent).

Is Open Source just for internal systems?

More than a third of respondents don't think so.

When asked how Open Source was used in their organisation, 36 per cent stated they had major customer facing/mission critical systems built on Open Source software. 47 per cent also have internal business systems built using Open Source software and 53 per cent have applications running on an Open Source operating system.

Southern Hemisphere's largest supercomputer to run on Open Source

Two organisations that have also realised the benefits of Open Source are the Australian Bureau of Meteorology and the Australia National University (ANU).

The Bureau and ANU have selected Sun hardware and Open Source software to deliver the Southern Hemisphere's largest supercomputer, which will enable advanced weather forecasting and climate change modeling on a global scale.

"The new supercomputer, which has 12 times the capability of the present system, will ensure ongoing international competitiveness and provide a facility that will allow Australian researchers to increase the scope, ambition and impact of their research," said Director of National Computational Infrastructure, Professor Lindsay Botten.

By implementing Open Source software the Bureau and ANU will gain an innovative and highly developed technology suite at a much lower cost than alternative proprietary software.

Other key findings of the research include:

Open Source software usage

• 73 per cent use web browsers
• 54 per cent use Open Source databases
• 50 per cent use an Open Source operating system
• 36 per cent use desktop productivity tools
• 29 per cent use development environments like NetBeans
• 19 per cent use Open Source application servers

How is Open Source used in organisations

• 36 per cent have mission critical systems built using Open Source software
• 47 per cent have internal business systems built using Open Source software
• 53 per cent have applications running on an Open Source operating software
• 58 per cent have desktops using Open Source tools

Drivers for Open Source

• Lower costs - 45 per cent
• Innovative technology - 32 per cent
• Ability to collaborate with the developer community and other users - 14 per cent

Plans for Open Source uptake

• 26 per cent to increase the use of Open Source in the next six months
• 12 per cent to increase the use of Open Source in the next 12 months
• 6 per cent to increase the use of Open Source in the next 18 months

Plans for increase in type of Open Source

• Operating system - 49 per cent
• Development environments - 44 per cent
• Desktop productivity tools - 40 per cent
• Database - 33 per cent

While cost is a driver for many organisations to implement Open Source it is the freedom to innovate, access to code developments outside the organisation and constant updates to the software that deliver the real benefits.

For more information see what Simon Phipps, Sun's Chief Open Source Officer had to say in Edge February 2009 on the freedoms of Open Source.

Evaluate your Open Source opportunities