Microsoft White Paper Sample

Oliver Wyman, a global strategy consulting firm, recently conducted structured interviews with IT decision-makers at large enterprises worldwide. The primary focus of this study was to understand the need for changes to the conventional Linux support business model and how new models of support, specifically Novell’s Expanded Support Services, affect IT organizations.

Overall, Oliver Wyman found that the conventional Linux support model constrains enterprise IT environments. IT Executives expressed concerns in their ability to integrate their Linux environment with other parts of their server architecture, either with their Windows servers or across multiple Linux distributions where there was a mixed Linux environment.

This study finds that Novell ESS represents an important break from the conventional Linux support model, increasing the range of options available to IT executives looking to manage their Linux environment and better integrate Linux into the overall management of their server environments.