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IOUG Releases Latest Oracle Community Survey on Open Source Trends

Information Management Online, August 11, 2006

Information Management Editorial Staff

The Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) has just released its third market study of 2006 from worldwide Oracle user group community members - 60 percent of Oracle database sites have open source operating systems in operation.

The study found that, open source operating systems, databases and middleware are more prevalent in smaller organizations with 57 percent of those having open source, users citing cost savings as the greatest motivation for adopting these systems. While enterprises are not as agile or able to derive business benefit from access to source code for custom coding or making site specific modifications.

The survey also defines four distinct segments within the Oracle database market: non-users, beginners, average users and advanced users and reports three key findings:

Most open source deployments are still in the outside edge of enterprise applications, such as Web servers or single-function servers, as compared to core enterprise applications such as ERP packages.

Enterprises are not using open source for its 'open' qualities-just 19 percent reported making changes to the source.

Open source databases, operating systems and middleware are more prevalent in smaller organizations attracted by low cost of acquisition and licensing model.

Of significant note for organizations considering and planning further open source deployment, more than one-third of respondents indicated that maintenance and support for open source software solutions are growing increasingly difficult. Another one-third reported that they find that open source solutions lack enterprise-grade support.

"This survey reiterates what we heard loud and clear at the IOUG COLLABORATE 06 debate entitled - Linux or UNIX," said IOUG president Ari Kaplan. "Attendees at the debate indicated that a lack of reliable and accountable support for open source solutions was a key decision factor."

These findings, and others, were attained through survey results obtained from 269 members of the IOUG via Web surveying conducted by Unisphere Research in June 2006.

This piece is brought to you by the Information Management editorial staff.

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