The best IT vendor of all? Red Hat

. . . keeping an eye on the penguin

Keywords: Match:

Nov. 27, 2007

For the fifth year, CIO Insight polled IT executives on how well their major vendors deliver business value, reliability and quality. This year's winner? The No. 1 vendor? None other than Linux distributor Red Hat.

Perhaps even more impressive than Red Hat beating such name brand companies as Google and Hewlett-Packard was that Red Hat also earned a remarkable 97 percent loyalty rating. In other words, 97 percent of Red Hat's customers plan on continuing to do business with Red Hat in the future. Oracle, which is doing its best to snatch Red Hat's business away from it with its Oracle Unbreakable Linux, should keep well in mind.

How does Red Hat win the hearts and minds of its corporate customers? A close look at how IT executives evaluated Red Hat and the other vendors shows us that where Red Hat really stood out above the rest was in how its products met expectations for lowering costs and meeting commitments on time and on budget.

There have been endless debates over Linux vs. Windows TCO (total cost of ownership). Some studies have claimed to be objective, but are based on Microsoft partners' reporting. Other studies have found that cost really isn't that big of an issue in operating system decisions. This may come as quite a surprise to CIOs and CFOs filing IT budgets for 2008.

What the CIO Insight study found was that cost is important to businesses and that Red Hat, by a good margin, is considered to give the most bang for the least amount of bucks. In other categories, Red Hat also ranked high. When it came to meeting expectations for increasing revenues, Red Hat ranked third behind VeriSign and Google. As for ROI (Return on Investment), Red Hat came in fifth behind VeriSign, Google, Dell and Research in Motion. It was only in the category of "solving the business problem paid to solve" that Red Hat wasn't in the top five. That said, it still ranked higher in this category than any other operating system vendor.

In the overall operating system vendor race, if you count companies that are not primarily operating system businesses, the rest of the pack was 17) IBM (AIX, OS/400, z/OS); 18) Sun (Solaris, OpenSolaris); 21) Microsoft (Windows); 26) Novell (SUSE Linux); and 29) Oracle (Unbreakable Linux, a Red Hat clone). This also shows that enterprises don't see Linux, in and of itself, as a difference maker.

It's only when Linux is combined with a strong support program and high-quality business implementations that Linux stands out among the rest. In short, Red Hat delivers not just Linux, but the top-end services and support that 21st century businesses want from their software partners.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Do you have comments on this story?

Talkback here
NOTE: Please post your comments regarding our articles using the above link. Be sure to use this article's title as the "Subject" in your posts. Before you create a new thread, please check to see if a discussion thread is already running on the article you plan to comment on. Thanks!

Related Stories:

(Click here for further information)

7 Advantages of D2D Backup
For decades, tape has been the backup medium of choice. But, now, disk-to-disk (D2D) backup is gaining in favor. Learn why you should make the move in this whitepaper.

4 Legal Reasons to Control Internet Access
The Internet is obviously a valuable resource for many organizations. However, many are exposed to legal liability concerns because they fail to control Internet access. Learn if you're safe in this white paper.

Rapidly Resolve J2EE Application Problems
Whether you are in the process of building J2EE applications or have J2EE applications already running in production, you must ensure that they deliver the expected ROI. Learn how in this white paper.

Load Testing 2.0 for Web 2.0
There are many unknowns in stress testing Web 2.0 applications. Find out how to test the performance of Web 2.0 in this white paper.

Build Better Games Online
For the game infrastructure providers, life is complex. Making money from games has become more complicated. Why? Find out in this white paper.

Building a Virtual Infrastructure from Servers to Storage
This white paper discusses the virtual storage solutions that reduce cost, increase storage utilization, and address the challenges of backing up and restoring Server environments.

Gaining Faster Wireless Connections with WiMAX
Welcome to what is quickly becoming the hyperconnected world where anything that would benefit from being connected to the network will be connected. Learn more in this white paper.

Is Your Desktop a Security Threat?
The new wave of sophisticated crimeware not only targets specific companies, but also targets desktops and laptops as backdoor entryways into those business’ operations and resources. Learn how to stay safe in this white paper.

Increasing SAN Reliability by 100 Percent
Storage area networks (SAN) are a strong part of storage plans. Learn how to increase your reliability and uptime by 100 percent in this case study.

Got a HOT tip? please tell us!

ADVERTISEMENT
(Advertise here)

Latest Linux-Watch Posts

• GPLv2 copyright suit targets 14 firms
• Amid controversy, Microsoft launches open source foundation
• As open source surges, Microsoft admits Linux threat
• Open source lobbying group emerges
• Open source Linux device drivers submitted by -- Microsoft?
• Google names Chrome OS partners
• Google's new OS marries Linux and Chrome
• Debian plans draw sharp warning from GNU guru
• OpenSource World announces keynote speakers
• Linux 2.6.30 gets new filesystems
More Linux-Watch posts

DesktopLinux headlines:
• Linux Mint 8 achieves final KDE version
• LinuxCon opens for registration, paper submission
• Open source nettop designed from survey requests
• Free training webinars feature Linux luminaries
• Second Lucid Lynx alpha said to offer 15-second start-ups
• Ubuntu books span Koala and Lynx distros
• Chrome OS gets faster Zero build
• Linux job site launches
• SUSE Moblin to ship on MSI's Pinetrail netbook
• HP's netbook triplets step up to Atom N450
More DesktopLinux news

LinuxDevices headlines:
More LinuxDevices news

Dev Shed

Powered By Dev Shed

Linux conquers smartphones!

...read all about 'em

Visit the...

news feed

Home \| News \| Forum \| About \| Contact

	Ziff Davis Enterprise Home \| Contact Us \| Advertise \| Link to Us \| Reprints \| Magazine Subscriptions \| Newsletters Tech RSS Feeds \| White Papers \| ROI Calculators \| Tech Podcasts \| Tech Video \| VARs \| Channel News
	Baseline \| Careers \| Channel Insider \| CIO Insight \| DesktopLinux \| DeviceForge \| DevSource \| eSeminars \| eWEEK \| Enterprise Network Security \| LinuxDevices \| Linux Watch \| Microsoft Watch \| Mid-market \| Networking \| PDF Zone \| Publish \| Security IT Hub \| Strategic Partner \| Web Buyer's Guide \| Windows for Devices
	Developer Shed \| Dev Shed \| ASP Free \| Dev Articles \| Dev Hardware \| SEO Chat \| Tutorialized \| Scripts \| Code Walkers \| Web Hosters \| Dev Mechanic \| Dev Archives \| igrep
Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2009 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Home \| News \| Forum \| About \| Contact

	Ziff Davis Enterprise Home \| Contact Us \| Advertise \| Link to Us \| Reprints \| Magazine Subscriptions \| Newsletters Tech RSS Feeds \| White Papers \| ROI Calculators \| Tech Podcasts \| Tech Video \| VARs \| Channel News
	Baseline \| Careers \| Channel Insider \| CIO Insight \| DesktopLinux \| DeviceForge \| DevSource \| eSeminars \| eWEEK \| Enterprise Network Security \| LinuxDevices \| Linux Watch \| Microsoft Watch \| Mid-market \| Networking \| PDF Zone \| Publish \| Security IT Hub \| Strategic Partner \| Web Buyer's Guide \| Windows for Devices
	Developer Shed \| Dev Shed \| ASP Free \| Dev Articles \| Dev Hardware \| SEO Chat \| Tutorialized \| Scripts \| Code Walkers \| Web Hosters \| Dev Mechanic \| Dev Archives \| igrep
Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2009 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.