Forrester: Open Source is everywhere, and increasingly used for mission-critical applications

(via Matt). Forrester has released a report on the increasing adoption of Open Source in the enterprise. While this will likely not come as a surprise to many of you reading this blog, the PDF does contain some interesting and worthwhile information. It’s not only that adoption is increasing, but that “Mission Critical” adoption is rapidly increasing. More and more companies are trusting Open Source for bits that are critical to the companies survival. That’s hard to ignore. From the article:

Forrester has observed a pattern: Once companies start using open source software, usage expands from simple applications (e.g., file and print serving and email) to mission-critical application areas including customer-facing applications. Data from the survey on which this report is based indicates that a large majority of companies that considered open source ended up adopting it, and more than half have adopted it for mission-critical applications. Each industry has its own definition of mission-critical, of course, but the key point is that enterprises feel confident enough in the quality and security of the technology to use open source in areas that affect revenue and customers.

The report also covers why enterprises are buying into Open Source, that they don’t really want to collaborate with the Open Source communities in general (another blog post in itself), some of the perceived inhibitors to enterprise adoption and more. Worth a read if enterprise Open Source is something you’re interested in.

–jeremy