Respondents in a study of European and North American companies that had evaluated or are using open source software see enough business benefit from open source to use it for applications critical to their business in key areas such as driving revenue and enhancing customer service. The international commissioned study was conducted for Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) by Forrester Consulting, a leading provider of technology and market research.

The majority of respondents to the study – based on interviews with nearly 500 IT decision makers, including senior executives – also are using open source for mission-critical applications, but showed concern about the availability of services to unlock the full value of open source solutions.

The respondents viewed open source software as capable of delivering significant business payback, especially by lowering their companies’ overall operating costs – a benefit cited by 62 percent.

However, factors other than potential for reduced costs – such as increased business flexibility – are clearly driving enterprise acceptance of open source for use in both IT infrastructure and mission-critical applications. While 62 percent of respondents stated that being able to use the software without paying a license fee made open source attractive, nearly 80 percent cited as more important such factors as support for open standards, use of code without restrictions and avoidance of lock-in to a single vendor.

Respondents See Open Source Valuable for Current and Future Needs

More than half of the respondents – 58 percent in North America and 51 percent in the UK and Continental Europe – stated that they now use open source software for mission-critical applications. More than 79 percent report using open source in the application infrastructure – databases, Web servers and application servers – which provides the underpinning for both routine and mission-critical applications. That widespread infrastructural use indicates strong potential for expansion of the number of mission-critical applications as open source proves its value to those enterprises.

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