These players include Caldera, Compaq, HP, IBM, Linuxcare, Red Hat, SGI, SuSE, TurboLinux, and VA Linux. Each of these companies was interviewed at length regarding its software support and integration services offerings, competition, customer demand, pricing strategy, target markets, business trends, and challenges. In all cases, several people were interviewed at each firm. The companies' Web sites were also reviewed and analyzed for detailed information on services offerings. IDC has identified several key dynamics and questions affecting the overall Linux market and the market for Linux support.
Openness allows users to get high levels of support from a variety of vendors.
Support providers compete with the Linux community. Although obviously still small in terms of the overall software support business, Linux support is rapidly growing. Customers have Linux support needs for installation, bug fixes, patches, systems administration, and software integration. This document looks at the U.S. market for Linux training. It investigates several primary areas of both the Linux operating environment and the training programs that have been built around it.