Service & Support

As Linux penetrates the enterprise market, the issue of service and support becomes more and more crucial. The Miller-Freeman IT Survey concluded that the largest roadblock to implementing Linux and Open Source-based solutions is the perceived lack of commercial support and service, cited by 32.9% of the respondents. The same study revealed that 79.1% considered service and support to be an important component of the Linux buying decision.

It's clear the service opportunity will be a major driver of growth in the Linux market. Technology analyst firms have not yet developed a forecast for the Linux services market. To estimate the size of the growing market for Linux technical services, Linuxcare used server shipment and system software support market forecasts from IDC and applied the services revenue mix derived from Oracle Corporation as reported in their most recent 10Qs.

The growth prospects are impressive, with an estimated CAGR for Linux technical support of 63% from 1999 to 2002, for Linux consulting services 108%, and for Linux education services 151%. This is clearly a dynamic market with excellent prospects for vendors that can best serve customer support and training requirements.