Study: 40% of Irish companies choose open-source

IDG News Service - More than 40% of organizations in Ireland will use some form of open-source software in 2006, according to a study by iReach, a research company in Dublin.

The growing use of open-source software will be driven by several factors, said iReach. While telecommunications operators, technology companies and the government have historically been open-source users, new sectors such as financial services are expected to increasingly turn to open-source tools. Reduced security concerns and the more prevalent ability to customize the software are attracting those new users to open-source products, iReach found.

The open-source community may also find some new users in Ireland due to a growing interest in IP telephony. Many companies are considering deploying open-source IP private-branch exchange products, and iReach expects vendors to increase their support options for open-source telecommunications systems during the year.

Beyond the corporation, iReach said it also expects to see open-source products reach further into homes.

Overall, spending on enterprise software will increase by 5% in 2006, the research company found. Database, messaging, integration and business intelligence software will account for a growing proportion of enterprise software investments.

In December, iReach began releasing results of a wide-reaching study of 250 CIOs in Ireland regarding their IT and telecommunications expectations for 2006. IReach, a part of the Next Utility Ltd. family of companies, has been slowly releasing the results and this week revealed its predictions for open-source in 2006.