(Length: 5 pages)

Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Open source software implementations remain few and far between among small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) in Europe. However, as the products mature and more firms accept the business case for open source, SMBs will further consider this option. Today, almost 20% of firms with 500 to 999 employees consider moving more systems onto Linux to be a somewhat important project; a further 10% consider it a critical funding priority. SMBs in the telecom and utilities industries are particularly interested in open source solutions when buying technology: As many as 62% of these firms are likely to look into products like MySQL for database deployments. Others, like public sector agencies, are keen to consider software utilities like Apache or Tomcat for their Web infrastructure. Small specialist providers and local consultancies will be the first to capitalize on SMBs' growing interest in open source. Larger providers like Novell or Red Hat must respond with targeted products and services to avoid losing out on the SMB opportunity.