Open Source Architecture Gaining Favor in Federal IT Sector, says Larstan report

By John Persinos, Larstan Business Reports

Washington, DC, August 8, 2005 – As new federal requirements for enhanced computing capabilities confront public sector agencies, government managers are increasingly adopting open source architecture to upgrade their IT environments, says a new survey from Larstan Business Reports.

According to Larstan’s survey of IT managers in the civilian and defense federal sectors, more and more federal computer infrastructures are migrating from proprietary Unix operating systems to open source Linux, to gain platform flexibility and other benefits. A majority of respondents – 63 percent – either agreed or strongly agreed that architecture with “open” (i.e., accessible) source code is valuable and their organization should adopt it. (For a free download of Larstan’s Federal Linux Survey and five related white papers: http://www.larstan.net/linux.htm)

Sixty percent of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that Unix and Microsoft environments are based on proprietary technology that can be expensive to deploy and maintain and can limit overall flexibility. Independent analysts agree that open source architecture in general, and Linux in particular, meet federal IT needs far better than proprietary, closed systems such as Unix.

“It’s literally impossible for manufactured software, right out of the box, to meet all of a customer’s needs,” says Jon Hall, executive director of Linux International, a non-profit, unaffiliated group with the aim of raising awareness of open-source software.

Hall attests that Linux is quickly gaining on Unix, especially among federal IT managers that are striving to modernize and upgrade their systems without massive disruptions. “With open source architecture, you can describe the main benefit in one word: control,” he says. Hall emphasizes that open source architecture provides greater flexibility and interoperability, which in turn enhances security, facilitates simplification and lowers total cost of ownership (TCO).

Mike Fitzmaurice, Linux Business Development Manager with GTSI, an IT solutions provider in Chantilly, Virginia, says increasing numbers of major vendors who value reliability are embracing Linux, a trend that’s pushing Linux into the computing mainstream.

Fitzmaurice also is president of the Beowulf Users Group, an independent group comprised of end users of high-performance computing systems built on Linux. “As more vendors use Linux, it confers greater credibility on open source architecture,” Fitzmaurice explains

To download Larstan’s federal Linux survey visit http://www.larstan.net/linux.htm. For a complete set of Larstan reports visit http://www.larstan.net.

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