Organisations looking to replace legacy systems should consider open source rather than proprietary software or public clouds, according to a new study.
Professor Jim Norton, a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, said there is more to be gained by migrating to open systems rather than public clouds.
The Open for Business study, which was commissioned by travel industry IT services group Amadeus, said open source technology is mature enough to run business critical systems on.
It outlined how open source systems have developed and why they now have the potential to deliver many business benefits.
"The benefits to enterprise customers are manifold and include greater and swifter innovation, increased responsiveness, enhanced systems accessibility and support," said Professor Norton.
"The first two in particular make the open systems as much a business as an IT issue."
There are also advantages to the IT provider that could have a "trickle down" benefit for customers, he added.
These include lower total cost of ownership, the ability to attract talented staff, faster access to new technology developments and access to a global community for quick problem resolution.
"The shift to open systems, despite the significant advantages, is not without its challenges," he warned.
Therefore, organisations should ensure there is a common support team for both the new and current systems.
Norton also described cloud technology as "half-baked", claiming the public cloud was an "immature business".
