The main results of a survey conducted by IDC, with a special focus on services

Last march, IDC made a survey about spending behaviour of italian companies in relation with Linux and Open Source software adoption. In this article, we'll see some of the main results of the survey, with a special attention to professional services.

Traditionally, the services linked with open source solutions - mainly Linux - adoption are maintenance, support and training.
In all the surveys on Linux customers' spending behaviour made by IDC since 1999, support and training have always been on the front row of investing plans, followed by implementation and integration, consulting and, finally, outsourcing. However, if - as market growth forecasts are making evident (see chart 1) - Linux adoption will get bigger, a relevant number of "undecided" users could push system integration and consulting services demand up.