The Linux Foundation recently released the “Linux Adoption Trends 2012: A Survey of Enterprise End Users,” which provides new data about Linux’s role in enterprise computing.

The invitation-only survey was conducted in late 2011 in partnership with Yeoman Technology Group and responses were received from nearly 1,900 individuals. According to the website, the survey reports trends among the world’s largest enterprise companies and government organizations – as identified by 428 respondents at organizations with US$ 500 million or more in annual revenues or more than 500 employees.

According to the Linux Foundation website, the 2012 Enterprise Linux survey shows that affinity among new and veteran Linux users continues to increase at the expense of Windows and Unix. The website states that part of this growth is because of Linux’s role in two of today’s biggest IT trends: supporting the increasing level of “Big Data” and achieving productivity and security gains with virtualization and cloud computing. According to the survey, enterprise Linux users show steady progress on all of these fronts and a clear preference for Linux as the foundation for these trends.

Some findings include:

• Eight out of ten respondents say that they have both added Linux servers in the last 12 months and plan to add more in the next 12 months, with the same number planning to add more Linux in the next five years.
• More than 75% of respondents expressed concern about supporting “Big Data” and nearly 72% are choosing Linux to support it.
• Technical issues cited by Linux users dropped 40% – from 20.3% in 2010 to 12.2%. Twenty-two percent fewer respondents cite perception by management as an issue, and 10% fewer say there are no issues at all impeding the success of Linux.
• More than two-thirds of respondents consider Linux to be more secure than other operating systems.

You can read more at http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2012/01/linux-foundation-releases-enterprise-linux-user-report or sign up to download the complete survey report at http://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/linux-foundation/linux-adoption-trends-end-user-report-2012