OpenLogic Releases Survey on Enterprise Open Source Support

BROOMFIELD, CO, Jul 22 (MARKET WIRE) --
OpenLogic, Inc., a provider of enterprise open source software solutions
encompassing hundreds of open source packages, today announced the
results of a survey of corporate open source users regarding open source
support.

The survey was conducted in June 2008 of 123 enterprise users of open
source software. Half of the respondents came from organizations with more
than 1,000 employees (upon request, OpenLogic can filter results of survey
by organization size). Respondents included systems and application
architects, IT executives and managers and developers from a wide range of
organizations.

OpenLogic's research found that enterprise users of open source software
have been accustomed to getting their support directly from the open
source community or from their own internal support resources. However, a
majority of respondents from larger enterprises saw having a support
vendor as important. Additionally, although the most common support
resources used were internal resources and open source mailing lists, a
minority of respondents use commercial open source vendors. Many
respondents also felt that open source support was harder to obtain.

When comparing open source support to support for traditional, non-open
source software, the vast majority of respondents reported that open
source support was of equal or better quality. Support issues for open
source were more frequently about configuration, integration and
performance than about software defects.

"As enterprises increase their open source adoption -- they have to
address how they support that software," said Kim Weins, senior vice
president of product and marketing at OpenLogic. "The sample size of our
survey is small but reflects exactly what we've been seeing in the
marketplace for years as we've built out OpenLogic's support offering
that leverages a diversified set of resources, including internal
experts, leading OSS developers and OSS support vendor partners. Vendors
looking to sell OSS support need to provide value to enterprises that
goes above and beyond what they get today from the community and internal
resources. At OpenLogic, we increase the value of support by providing
aggregated support that helps customers with their complex, multi-source
environments."

Among the findings of the survey:

-- Most open source support questions are not about software defects:
More respondents needed help "often" or "very often" with
configuration (27.9%), integration (27.9%) or performance (26%)
issues, than for software defects (22%)

"These results align with our experience providing support for over
400 open source projects. On the average, only 5% of support questions
from OpenLogic customers are related to a defect in open source software.
Most commonly, enterprises need help in troubleshooting issues around
integrating multiple open source products with proprietary commercial
solutions and code developed in-house. This reflects the mixed-source
reality of applications developed by enterprises today," Weins said.

-- Enterprises use internal support or community support most often,
and report trouble finding open source support: Respondents "often"
or "very often" turned to internal support resources (56% of
respondents), internal developers (52.2% of respondents) and
community resources (54.8% of respondents). Enterprises accessed
external OSS vendors (10.4% of respondents) and IT consultants
(10.3% of respondents) much less frequently. In addition, a majority
over half of respondents report difficulty in finding OSS support
"sometimes," "often" or "always," which may explain the lower usage
of vendors to resolve issues.

"We believe this reflects the role of internal resources as the first
line of support as well as the historical availability of commercial open
source support. For the vast majority of open source projects, there has
only been community support available. For example, less than 10% of the
400 open source projects supported by OpenLogic's have any other
commercial entity supporting the project," Weins said.

-- Larger enterprises see OSS vendor support as more important: Over 50%
of respondents in mid-size and large companies (1000 employees or
more), see an open source vendor as "very important" or "required."
In comparison, only 39% of respondents across all company sizes felt
that vendor support was "required" or "very important."

"As open source software makes its way into mission-critical
applications, large and mid-size enterprises we work with are placing
increasing importance on SLA support. In addition, there are now more
commercial support options available for companies to choose from," Weins
said.

-- Enterprises report highest satisfaction with support from internal
resources: More than half of the respondents were "satisfied" or
"extremely satisfied" getting support from either internal developers
within their own company (60.8%); other internal support resources
(58.6%); or open source project mailing lists and message boards
(49.1%). Commercial open source support followed with 38% reporting
being satisfied. Respondents also report internal resources as being
the quickest to resolve issues.

"High satisfaction with internal resources reflects the fact that
these employees have an intimate understanding of complex, multi-source
applications that have been developed by enterprises and also the speed
with which internal resources respond. However, we believe this also
indicates the need for OSS support vendors to deliver high quality, fast
turnaround support," Weins said.

-- OSS Support is harder to find: More than half of the respondents felt
that open source software is about the same (26.1%) or harder (37.4%)
to obtain than commercial proprietary software support.

-- OSS software is high quality: Users felt that the quality of open
source software is the same (43.5% of respondents) or better (35.7%)
than proprietary software.

About OpenLogic

OpenLogic is a leading provider of open source solutions that enable
enterprises to safely acquire, support, and control open source software.
OpenLogic provides enterprises with a certified library of open source
software that encompasses hundreds of the most popular open source
packages via OpenLogic Exchange (OLEX), a free web site where companies
can find, research, and download certified, enterprise-ready open source
packages on demand. With the broadest open source coverage in the
industry, OpenLogic offers indemnification; updates; and enterprise-grade
technical support backed by the OpenLogic Expert Community. OpenLogic
also provides solutions for open source governance and to automate the
integration and deployment of open source components -- reducing the risk
and maximizing the cost savings associated with using open source
software. For more on OpenLogic, go to www.openlogic.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:
Bret Clement
Page One PR
303.462.3057
bret@pageonepr.com

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