Linux revenue set to top $1 billion in 2012

Linux operating system software revenue is continuing to rise and will pass the $1 billion mark in 2012, according to analysts.

Analyst firm IDC said that OS software revenue would rise by 23.4 per cent from 2007 to 2008. It predicted that between 2008 and 2013 there would be a compound annual growth rate of 16.9 per cent.

If this prediction becomes reality, revenues will break through $1 billion in 2012 and should amount to $1.2 billion by 2013, IDC said.

Yet subscriptions on the server side are expected to contract this year, followed by a steady annual recovery growth rate of 1.1 per cent through to 2013.

IDC did predict faster growth in non-paid Linux server operating system deployments, and noted that there will also be more virtualised deployments taking place on existing servers which aren't included in these figures.

Al Gillen, program vice president of system software at IDC, said in a statement: "We find that more customers are seeing nonpaid Linux as a viable solution for certain non-critical business needs, despite the lack of commercial applications and the potential support challenges that come with a non-commercially-supported distribution."

The report also showed the key players in the market, with Red Hat and Novell accounting for 94.5 per cent of worldwide revenues in 2008 and also representing 90 per cent of worldwide Linux subscribers.

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