It sounds logical—running your IT infrastructure on non-paid community Linux distributions can save your organization money. After all, the initial software investment for community Linux is $0. With no up-front costs, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of non-paid Linux has to be lower than a commercial Linux subscription, right?
Think again.
Organizations that utilize non-paid community Linux do avoid an initial financial investment. But by selecting a solution that is not commercially supported, these organizations become less efficient and expose themselves to operational costs and risks that quickly add up. Higher labor costs. Increased downtime. Lower IT staff productivity. The software may be “free,” but the impact on IT efficiency and the costs that result are real. When you compare the TCO of community Linux to an enterprise-ready, commercial solution like Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the choice is simple.
But don’t just take our word for it. Industry analyst firm IDC conducted primary research to document the benefits of standardizing your Linux deployments on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
The result of their analysis is clear: Organizations that standardize on Red Hat Enterprise Linux quickly recover their up-front subscription costs through more efficient operations, less downtime, and a more productive IT staff. If you are still running community Linux in your enterprise, you are putting your operational efficiency at risk.