18/04-05   -   Pressmeddelande

IDC Survey Finds Widespread Adoption of Open Source Software in Medium-Sized and Large Companies in Europe

Open source software appears to have a higher stage of adoption than previously thought, particularly in the database and operating system space. The fact that one-third of respondents to a recent IDC survey reported "significant live use" of open source databases suggests that open source offerings are impacting this specific software market in major way, taking market share from proprietary commercial products.

"The high adoption rate of open source software among European companies is one of several surprising outcomes of this survey," said IDC analyst, Bo Lykkegaard. "Another interesting result was how important European companies perceive software to be for their ability to compete. More than half of the respondents said that software technology is ´very important´ to their business success. This goes against claims made by certain industry observers that IT is no longer a source of competitive advantage," Lykkegaard continued.

IDC´s study, Western European End-User Survey: 2005 Spending Priorities, Outsourcing, Open Source, and Impact of Compliance (Doc #LC01M, April 2005), analyzes a number of general software issues, such as the importance of software to end users, software spending priorities for 2005, the impact of regulatory compliance on spending, business process outsourcing, and adoption of open source software.

IDC´s 2005 Western European software end-user survey includes a number of additional questions related to specific software areas, which will be analyzed in upcoming studies. The survey was carried out in March 2005 and covered 625 companies across Western Europe.

This study is available for purchase from your local IDC office, or from www.idc.com.

About IDC

IDC is the premier global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries. We analyze and predict technology trends so that our clients can make strategic, fact-based decisions on IT purchases and business strategy. Over 700 IDC analysts in 50 countries provide local expertise and insights on technology markets. Business executives and IT managers have relied for 40 years on our advice to make decisions that contribute to the success of their organizations.

IDC is a division of IDG, the world´s leading technology media, research, and events company. Additional information can be found at www.idc.com<

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For more information, contact:
Bo Lykkegaard
+45 39162253