SMB’s play key role for Indian Linux OS mkt

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Linux server operating system is gaining its momentum in India with small and medium business being the prominent adopters.

Linux adoption rate in Indian server OS market, has increased from 7.0 per cent to 8. per cent (and rising) over a 13-month period (since April 2009), per the latest research from Springboard Research.

The rise in Linux adoption in India has been fuelled by procurements coming from a wide range of verticals including the government, education and enterprise segments.

Small and Medium Businesses dominate the Linux server OS market with an adoption growth rate of 8.3 per cent, 2.4 percentage points higher than that for large enterprises.

According to the research factors such as low cost of ownership, a perception of minimized security threats, lack of piracy-related issues and a strong online support community have been the main growth drivers for Linux adoption.

Constrained by limited budgets, Linux proved to be the right product for SMBs who were looking for a solution that could help them meet their business goals at a low cost.

“An interesting trend that has gained momentum in the recent past is the SMB demand for customized solutions. Today, enterprises look for products and solutions specifically designed to meet both their and their customers' needs and open-source solutions offer that flexibility,” said Sameer Bhatnagar, senior research analyst at Springboard Research.

He added, “Also, high technical skill availability is one of the key accelerators of greater Linux adoption in India.”
Springboard’s study notes that among all verticals, engineering led in Linux server OS adoption, with a healthy amount of Linux server OS installations coming from engineering, energy and entertainment sectors.

Other verticals such as software, non-profit, education, government, BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), and telecom have also actively started adopting open source solutions.

Pricing coupled with a perception of strong server security are the key reasons for growing adoption of Linux-based servers across various verticals. This growing demand has led other OSS players like Red Hat and Novell, among others, to aggressively target the enterprise segment.
Linux vs. Windows (Server) Adoption Trend

Despite the growing installed base of Linux servers across the large enterprise and SMB segments, Windows still holds the upper hand in server OS adoption (91.8 per cent) in India. In particular, Windows 2003 showed the highest adoption rate of 70 per cent, an increase of 2.8 percentage points over a 12-month period.

“In spite of Linux’s gains in the SMB market, Microsoft’s platforms continue to monopolize India’s overall OS market and Linux is still only a distant threat, especially considering that many customers are not convinced of Linux support for mission-critical business requirements,” said Manish Bahl, director, India and Research Operations.

Bhal suggested prioritizing Linux awareness by building an ecosystem of ISVs that support deployment while training partners for better reach, which will lead to make headway in the large enterprises segment.