2014 Enterprise End User Trends Report

Transcription

1 2014 Enterprise End User Trends Report Fourth Annual Survey of Enterprise Linux Users December 2014 A Linux Foundation Publication

2 Executive Summary: Cloud Computing and Security Drive Increasing Adoption of Linux by the World s Largest Enterprises The results of the fourth annual survey of the world s largest enterprise Linux users [1] confirm that, as the software-dominated transformation of the enterprise continues, Linux is the foundation of choice for building the future. Linux adoption among the world s largest enterprises continues to grow, according to the annual Enterprise End User Report produced by The Linux Foundation in partnership with Yeoman Technology Group, and it is the primary platform for building the cloud. This year s results illustrate a positive outlook for Linux, as the transition to enterprise cloud computing increases demand for the operating system. Companies are sticking with and investing more in Linux in response to this major change. The survey shows that 87 percent of enterprises are adding more Linux servers this year, and three-quarters are using Linux as their primary cloud platform. In a year when security was under a microscope due to multiple high-profile vulnerabilities, the largest users continue to rate security among their top reasons for adopting Linux. It follows only Feature Set in the list of drivers (tied at #2 with Total Cost of Ownership ). In fact, a full 78 percent of users rate Linux more secure when compared to other operating systems. This survey is not intended to be an assessment of the overall penetration of Linux in the market, nor is it designed as a crossplatform study. Its focus is on the opinions and plans of enterprise-class organizations that use Linux. We received responses from 774 individuals, 262 of whom represent organizations with sales of $500 million plus or 500+ employees. They provided their thoughts and comments on their operations, positioning, and plans for the platform. Key findings from this year s report include: Linux leads enterprise shift to cloud. Linux remains the go-to choice for the cloud, with 75 percent of enterprises reporting that they use Linux as their primary cloud platform. Compare that to fewer than 24 percent using Windows and less than two percent using UNIX to support the cloud. Enterprises consider Linux superior in technical prowess, security, and cost. In fact, 78 percent of enterprises feel Linux is more secure than most other operating systems, an important consideration in light of increasing scrutiny on the security of projects that support the world s software infrastructure. Linux continues its year-over-year growth at the expense of other operating systems. Linux remains the platform of choice for enterprises running it; more than 87 percent added Linux servers this year, and 82 percent plan to add more in the next year. In fact, deployment on Linux has risen while deployment on Windows continues to fall. Rapid growth continues to raise concerns about finding Linux talent. The concern among the world s largest enterprises about finding trained Linux staff remains at just above 40 percent and is the largest concern cited. [1] Defined as organizations with 500 or more employees and/or revenues of $500 million or more. 2

3 Linux and Private or Public Cloud A Natural Fit Either Way Over the last four years, adoption of Linux in the enterprise has grown steadily. This year continued that trend, with more than 87 percent of enterprises adding Linux servers, and 82 percent planning to add more servers next year. The preference will continue to grow as cloud computing moves from peripheral to core workloads in the enterprise technology stack. Linux is the natural platform for cloud computing: it s modular, performant, power efficient, scalable, open source, and ubiquitous. To date, just over half (51 percent) of large enterprises are running production systems in the cloud, and 39 percent are planning to increase their cloud computing activities in the next 12 months. With 87 percent saying that an open system is important to their cloud strategy, it is no wonder that Linux is the dominant platform for this space. Our survey also showed that private cloud Linux Windows Unix PRIMARY CLOUD PLATFORM IN % 23% 2% is the option of choice for large enterprises. Sixty percent are building pure private clouds, with only 16 percent relying on a public cloud infrastructure and 25 percent going with a hybrid model. The prevalence of private cloud makes the number of enterprises using Linux in the cloud even more significant, since the operating platform is solely their choice. However, even those electing to use public or hybrid cloud models are likely relying on Linux as well. Virtually every major public cloud provider features Linux as a core part of its solution, including Google, Rackspace, IBM, Verizon Terremark, and Amazon. Microsoft s Azure stands alone as the only major public provider running Windows as its primary platform base. Interestingly, Microsoft recently acknowledged that over 20 percent of the virtual machines on Azure are running Linux. [2] Clearly even those who consider their dominant platform to be Windows are demanding accommodation for Linux workloads. In 2011, 70 percent of the organizations in the cloud cited Linux as their primary cloud platform. This year, that number climbed to 75 percent, with more than half planning on increasing their use of Linux in the cloud. Compare that to fewer than 24 percent using Windows and less than two percent using UNIX to support the cloud. At the same time, the biggest planned usage for new Linux instances is to support new or expanded application and web servers (88 percent), a number that has grown steadily since we first asked the question in This is also significant to Linux cloud penetration, because nearly 71 percent reported that they are currently running applications and web servers in the cloud. This Linux-centric cloud trend extends beyond enterprises. Seventy-two percent of SMBs using Linux are either currently in the cloud or in the midst of adoption. The majority of these users have opted for public or hybrid models. Their platform of choice? A whopping 84 percent use Linux. [2] Source: Microsoft News, Yes, you heard that right. More than 20% of Azure VMs Run on Linux. MSFTnews/status/

4 This steady cloud adoption, combined with a stable internal usage, adds up to a noticeable market shift. In fact, research firm IDC reported earlier this year that while overall server revenue was down (4Q13), Linux hardware revenue increased 14.4 percent year-over-year, with Linux servers now representing 28.5 percent of all server revenue worldwide. IDC noted that Linux server demand continued to be positively impacted by cloud infrastructure deployments, and our survey results support that assertion. During the same period, Windows hardware revenue increased only 0.1 percent while UNIX revenue continued to plummet an additional 20.2 percent. [3] [3] IDC Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker, 4Q13 ( Feature Set, Security, and Cost of Ownership Are Top Drivers of Adoption Specific drivers for Linux adoption have remained consistent for four years in a row. The top three drivers for adopting Linux continue to be its feature set (74 percent), security (69 percent), and lower TCO (69 percent). These are all enabled by the open source, collaborative nature of the project. At the same time, management s view of Linux has remained consistently positive, with a steady percent viewing the platform as equally or more strategic to the organization every year that we have conducted the survey. This year s Heartbleed vulnerability put software security in the spotlight. Certainly Linux is not immune to security threats but with more than 10,000 developers involved in building and testing the Linux kernel since 2005, the project has strong support. Users appear confident in Linux with their ranking of security among the top drivers for its adoption, and 78 percent rank Linux more secure than other operating systems. Security vulnerabilities are concerns for all software development, both proprietary and open source, but when software is properly funded and supported, users can be as confident as possible in its overall stability. The Linux Foundation s Core Infrastructure Initiative, introduced earlier this year, aims TOP DRIVERS FOR LINUX ADOPTION #1 Feature Set #2 Total Cost of Ownership and Security (tie) #4 No Vendor Lock-in #5 Internal Experience with Linux to help support underfunded open source projects that support the world s technology infrastructure. More Secure About the Same Less Secure I Don t Know LARGEST USERS RATE LINUX MORE SECURE THAN OTHER PLATFORMS 75% 17% 2% 3% 4

5 Greenfield, Virtualization, and Mission-Critical Deployments Drive Linux Growth At The Expense of Other Operating Systems Regardless of whether or not a server is going to be in the cloud, IT initiatives continue to rely on Linux. One of the strongest trend lines in our surveys has been the growth in the use of Linux for missioncritical workloads relative to other operating systems. There has been a big uptick in this number, from a healthy 60 percent in our 2011 survey to 72 percent this year. This trend is mirrored by the responses to our question about which platforms organizations primarily use for deploying and developing enterprise applications. The responses this year were 78 percent for deploying and 77 percent for developing enterprise apps on Linux; these numbers have been steadily increasing at the expense of Windows and UNIX over the last four years. In fact, deployment on Linux has risen from 65 to 79 percent, while deployment on Microsoft has fallen from 45 to 36 percent. Linux also continues to show consistent year-over-year growth in planned usage for development environments and databases. Projected use of net new Linux servers to support development environments is up seven points and support of relational/enterprise databases is up 11 points since Our respondents report a sharp decline in the number of net new Windows, UNIX and other servers deployed in the last 12 months. Deployment of Windows servers dropped from 56 percent to 41 percent since we first asked the question in 2011; UNIX has dropped off by more than half from 24 to 11 percent over the same period. LINUX DEPLOYMENTS INCREASE AT EXPENSE OF WINDOWS DEPLOYMENTS 80% Linux 79% Windows 70% 65% 60% 50% 40% 30% 45% % 5

6 The Changing Face of Virtualization Virtualization is a mainstay of the modern network with almost every enterprise virtualizing some of its computing stack, either in-house or as part of its cloud environment. However, the majority of early virtualization projects were hypervisor-based, relying upon Xen, KVM, or third party hypervisors from VMware and others. All have the same core concept: emulate server hardware, creating a virtual machine for an application s use. Containers have risen as an alternative to the hypervisor model, creating instances for applications on top of a single server instance. Not only are they super efficient, providing anywhere from 2-6 times as many instances compared to a hypervisor, they also tend to have faster start-up and shutdown speeds. So why hasn t everyone switched? First, it requires a well-planned project, especially if you already have hundreds of virtualized sessions. Second, not everything can be switched to a container, especially non-linux operating systems. Ultimately, most organizations will end up with a mix that s customized for their environment. In fact, we found that: 67% vs. 16% & 49% of organizations already have Xen or KVM deployed with containers deployed of organizations are currently evaluating or planning on deploying containers this year, the largest planned usage of the three Community development continues for all three options, ensuring enterprises will continue to have a diverse toolset for virtualization execution. 6

7 The Drive to Find Linux Talent Continues Linux growth doesn t come without challenges, namely staffing. Most concerns about Linux have plummeted over the last four years. Lack of native features has dropped 34 percent from 11 percent in 2011 to seven percent this year. Concerns about driver availability have dropped from 40 percent in 2011 to 27 percent this year, and concerns related to interoperability have fallen from 39 percent to 29 percent over the same time period. However, as these other issues have receded, finding qualified talent to support Linux has become the top concern. This is not surprising given the rise of Linux adoption as evidenced by this report. The push to develop talent can be seen in the expansion of the Linux community. Enrollment in Linux training programs and demand for Linux certifications, such as those offered by The Linux Foundation, have dramatically increased over the last few years. Additionally, the number of enterprise users contributing code to the Linux kernel FINDING TALENT REMAINS THE TOP CONCERN TOP CONCERNS RELATED TO LINUX Finding Staff/ Talent Fragmentation Interoperability Drivers No Concerns Legal 41% 32% 29% 27% 20% 20% has increased nearly eight points since 2011, indicating that more professionals are mastering collaborative development skills. Professionals understand the opportunity that awaits them if armed with the right skills, and we anticipate enterprise users will find more and more Linux talent coming up through the ranks. The Bottom Line: Linux Is Driving the Future of Enterprise Computing Linux has shown strong and consistent growth within large enterprises over the last four years, bolstered in large part by the increase in cloud adoption and superior feature set, security, and TCO. Linux is also uniquely suited to support the latest demands of enterprise users for greenfield deployments, mission-critical workloads, and virtualization. future for Linux. As the community works to foster talent, Linux vendors should continue to plan for growth in the coming years; the survey results indicate that the platform is maintaining its positive perception and adoption among the world s largest enterprise users, and the cloud providers that support them. The consistency of the research findings and the year-over-year improvements in perception and adoption foretell a positive 7

8 Methodology This report was compiled by The Linux Foundation in partnership with Yeoman Technology Group, based on the results of its fourth annual invitation-only survey of enterprise Linux users. The survey pool was comprised of The Linux Foundation End User Council, as well as other companies, organizations, and government agencies selected by The Linux Foundation and Yeoman. The survey is not intended to be an assessment of the overall penetration of Linux in the market, nor is it designed as a crossplatform study. It is also important to note that enterprise users who are motivated to take a survey from The Linux Foundation should not be considered unbiased. However the size of these organizations, their buying power and technical prowess as filtered by The Linux Foundation and Yeoman should provide important guidance for Linux users, vendors, and developers. About Our Respondents This year our survey garnered responses from 774 participants. The analysis in this report is focused on 262 respondents who work for organizations with sales of more than $500 million and/or 500+ employees. The majority (60 percent) identified themselves as IT/IS staff or developers and represented a wide range of industries. Users from the US and Canada make up 48 percent of the respondents, 26 percent are from Europe, and 11 percent are from Asia. This survey was conducted with members of The Linux Foundation s End User Council, as well as other end users identified by The Linux Foundation and Yeoman Technology Group. The End User Council is a neutral forum for corporate end users to voice platform concerns, discuss best practices on Linux deployments, and identify common technical requirements that can be shared with The Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board and the Vendor Advisory Council. Companies represented throughout the years on The Linux Foundation End User Council include Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Bristol-Myers Squibb, NTT, Deutsche Bank, DreamWorks, ADP, McKinsey and Company, Bank of New York, NYSE, CME Group, NASDAQ QMX, Goodrich, MetLife, AIG, and many more. By participating in Linux Foundation events and frequently meeting with the Technical and Vendor Advisory Boards, the End User Council promotes understanding of how Linux is and will be used in many of the world s most demanding environments. The organized collaboration among these three constituents aggregates and streamlines communication of key issues facing the platform now and in the future, strengthening Linux for all. More information on the council, including how to get involved, can be found at advisorycouncils/euc. The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. To learn more about The Linux Foundation and its other initiatives please visit us at 8

9 The Linux Foundation promotes, protects and standardizes Linux by providing unified resources and services needed for open source to successfully compete with closed platforms. To learn more about The Linux Foundation or our other initiatives please visit us at