Open source software boom to generate $5.8bn by 2011

gallery

The IT industry's increasing hunger for open source software, which resulted in has revenue of $1.8 billion last year, is set to grow and top $5.8 billion by 2011, according to IDC.

But the revenue growth will still lag behind the actual growth of open source software (OSS) distribution, claims the researcher's study entitled 'Worldwide Open Source Software Business Models 2007-2011 Forecast: A Preliminary View.'

The report suggests that one of the main drivers for the increased adoption, particularly commercially, is the fact that more customers are realising the benefits of being interested in something that provides them with additional choice and helps strengthen their position with proprietary vendors.

Furthermore, venture capitalists are providing more financial backing and a greater number of larger organisations are leading by example through their own deployments to help create a bigger pool of OSS supporters.

"We are in the early stages of the development and deployment of OSS," said Matt Lawton, programme director of IDC's open source software business models research programme.

"The market is still quite immature, especially now that we see active open source projects in all layers of the software stack. Although we see healthy growth in revenue from standalone open source software, we must keep in mind that revenue will substantially lag behind the distribution of open source software. Many distributions of standalone open source software are free, while paid distributions typically are based on pay-as-you-go subscriptions rather than pay-up-front licence fees."

Email to a friend

Print this page