Where Does Linux Fit?

Linux currently excels in the following application categories:

• File and print serving in heterogeneous environments
  (Samba, Netatalk, NFS)
• Web serving (Apache)
• Email and news server (Sendmail, Postfix, NNTP, list servers)
• Network infrastructure (DNS/DHCP, LDAP)
• Network security (firewalling, IP masquerading, NAT)
• Inexpensive parallel supercomputing (Beowulf)

Fitting Linux into the puzzle of existing IT systems and technologies requires an examination of where it demonstrates superior return on investment. Linux yields dramatic cost savings over a NetWare or Windows NT solution for departmental file and printer serving. Linuxcare's estimates indicate that an NT solution is fifteen times more expensive than a Linux solution. Given Linux's excellent remote administration features, these savings can compound in the form of lower ongoing savings on maintenance costs.

However, it is important to note that Linux has weaknesses which limit its current prospects on the desktop and in the high-end server space:

• Lack of consistent GUI
• Lack of scalability past eight processors
• Limited support for databases greater than a terabyte in size
• Virtually no groupware applications
• Lack of mainstream productivity applications
• Extreme high-end features (e.g., journaling file systems) in development phase
• Industry standards for skills certification in development phase

These limitations are being addressed and are not expected to be long-term obstacles to growth. However, they underscore the fact that Linux today best fits a limited—though important—set of customer requirements.

In the next year, Linux is forecast to take on more of a mission-critical role in the enterprise. A recent survey of 600 IT professionals conducted by Miller-Freeman revealed that respondents planned to deploy Linux in the areas of:

• Web application development, administration and deployment
  (e.g., IBM Websphere)
• Network management (e.g., CA Unicenter)
• Enterprise applications (e.g., SAP)
• Custom applications
• Databases