85 per cent of firms use at least one piece of open source software in their business IT infrastructure, according to a Gartner report into penetration of the technology worldwide.The survey, which questioned 274 businesses across various industries – including various sized enterprises, ranging from small through to large – found that 85 per cent of those questioned used at least one piece of open source software.
According to the results, the other 15 per cent said that they were considering rolling out one or more open source software packages in the coming months. However, Gartner were keen to stress that of that 85 per cent that currently deployed some form of open source software, many only used one package – ranging from middleware through to internet browsers.
Gartner analyst Laurie Wurster said that one barrier to higher penetration was the cost of deploying open source software: "Just because something is free doesn't mean that it has no cost.
"Companies must have a policy for procuring OSS, deciding which applications will be supported by OSS, and identifying the intellectual property risk or supportability risk associated with using OSS," she added. "Once a policy is in place, then there must be a governance process to enforce it."
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