ValueAnalysis.PDFVIP

Technology Insight Paper ! Migrating to Oracle Linux—an Economic Value Analysis By John Webster, Sr. Analyst at Evaluator Group October 2015 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Enabling(you(to(make(the(best(technology(decisions(( ! Migrating to Oracle Linux—an Economic Value Analysis 1 ?!2015!Evaluator!Group,!Inc.!!All!rights!reserved.!!Reproduction!of!this!publication!in!any!form!! without!prior!written!permission!is!prohibited.! ! Migrating to Oracle Linux—an Economic Value Analysis 2 ?!2015!Evaluator!Group,!Inc.!!All!rights!reserved.!!Reproduction!of!this!publication!in!any!form!! without!prior!written!permission!is!prohibited.! ! Executive Summary Linux!is!now!a!foundational!operating!system!in!many!if!not!most!enterprise!IT!organizations!because!it! allows!them!to!deploy!a!fullGfeatured,!stable,!and!production!class!operating!environment!while! reducing!costs.!It!is!also!becoming!a!popular!OS!environment!for!private!and!public!clouds.!In!fact,! according!to!the!Linux!Foundation,!Linux!is!the!primary!platform!for!building!the!cloud!and!is! experiencing!continual!yearGoverGyear!growth!in!major!corporations.!One!reason!this!is!the!case!is!that! 78!percent!of!enterprises!feel!that!Linux!is!more!secure!than!most!other!operating!systems.1! Enterprises!have!choices!when!it!comes!to!acquiring!Linux!and!related!support!services,!the!most! common!of!these!being!Red!Hat!with!Red!Hat!Enterprise!Linux!(RHEL).!However,!because!Oracle!Linux!is! binary!compatible!with!RHEL!and!therefore!general!purpose!in!nature,!users!can!consolidate!all!of!their! LinuxGbased!applications!to!further!reduce!costs!associated!with!the!Linux!operational!environment.!We! have!heard!Oracle!Linux!users!refer!to!this!trend!as!a!“One!Linux”!strategy.! Here,!at!Oracle’s!request,!we!review!Oracle!Linux!which!is!free!to!download,!use,!and!redistribute! without!a!support!contract.!!We!highlight!its!features!and!compatibility!with!the!Linux!standard.!We! then!look!at!the!features!and!competency!of!Oracle