The Role of Linux in Reducing the Cost of Enterprise Computing
Scott McLarnon · 2001
IDC’s recent study on Internet/intranet/extranet and collaborative workloads found significantly lower cost of ownership for Linux. To arrive at this important conclusion, we compared the total cost of ownership (TCO) of Linux on Intel architecture (IA) servers and RISC/Unix servers. Associated costs with Linux are not only dramatically lower for the hardware and software, as you might expect, but also comparable or lower for staffing — which you might not expect. With staffing typically the largest component of overall IT solution costs, this finding has important implications for IT planning. In summary, Linux provides a lower-cost platform for these workloads, especially in the first year of deployment. In the case of