This blog was contributed by SearchEnterpriseLinux.com expert Sander van Vugt.

At Novell Inc.’s annual BrainShare user conference in Salt Lake City, I talked to Guy Lunardi, one of the most important guys behind Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED). I had one pressing question for him. I showed him my new Dell XPS laptop, which has a lot of fancy stuff and runs out of factory Windows Vista (since that is the only OS that will allow me to use all the fancy stuff). So I asked him, “When will I install SUSE Linux on that?”

He responded, “Sander, if you go to a shop, buy a Vista DVD and install it on your laptop, do you think it will all work?” The answer was of course not.

When you introduce new hardware, one of the major issues is driver support. “Currently we are talking a lot with the people that develop the devices that are in these new computers to make sure that Linux drivers will be available,” Lunardi explained. “We help them wherever we can and it’s only getting better. It helps that we have some major customers like the Peugeot car manufacturer in France that demand specific functionality. They ask [for] a feature, we’ll make sure they get it and the result of all the effort will be in our new software.”

So there have been lots of developments recently. As a result, when it comes out later this year, openSUSE 11 will be as good as Windows Vista in supporting devices. “But,” Lunardi assured me, “you’ll always have to complete the installation of your operating system by downloading and installing additional drivers. That’s the case for Linux, [just] as it is the case for Windows.”

Fair enough. I’ll give it a try when openSUSE 11 comes out.

IT pros are divided on the value of brand-name certifications. On the one hand, vendor-neutral certifications seem a better fit today’s world of commoditized products. Then again, a Red Hat certification certainly appeals to the majority of Linux-friendly employers.

Last week I chatted with Linux Professional Institute (LPI) president and CEO Jim Lacey about the merits of vendor-neutral certification. In November, LPI joined forces with several organizations, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Novell and Sun, to revitalize the certification market by forming the Information Technology Certification Council (ITCC). Responding to the Lacey interview, users generally agreed that specialization is useful and can win jobs; but today’s IT environments require IT pros who can think outside just one vendor’s box.

Jesse Becker, a member of the DC Linux User Group (DCLUG), values peers who can apply their specific knowledge to a larger scope of products and technologies. “A good generalist can probably do whatever is needed, even if they may take slightly longer than someone focused on a specific product or system,” Becker said. “Knowing how IP, disk partitions or file systems all work is much more useful than just knowing how to run tools or knowing the magic options to ifconfig, or fdisk or fsck.”

Most Microsoft pros are not good generalists, and most Linux pros are, says Ed Kohlwey, technology director of The ASCII Group of Bethesda, Maryland. Largely, Linux pros have had to be able to work in heterogeneous data centers. Microsoft pros have not, but that’s changing.

Linux administrator Ed Sawicki of Lake Oswego, Ore. thinks vendor-neutral certs encourage innovation and could help break up IT vendor monopolies. “Corporations tend to solve problems in ways that maximize their profits. I don’t believe this changes just because the vendor is selling open source software like Linux. Vendor-specific certifications encourage people to build social capital in specific brands, thus encouraging the formation of a monopoly. We’re all better off if certifications are neutral.”

Vendor-neutral certifications are most useful with commoditized, broadly available and rapidly changing technologies, according to Forrester Research analyst Jeffrey Hammond. They also help IT pros deal with issues independent or orthogonal to specific technologies like programming languages and database products.

On the flip side, Kohlwey told me, vendor-neutral certs may lack clout with employers, who don’t know what those certs mean. It’s easy to recognize the value of a certification from a big vendor, such as Novell, Red Hat, Microsoft or Sun. So, employers most often judge the merits of an IT professional based on their own experience with and current usage of a certain product.

Vendor certs are effective marketing tools for IT professionals, says DCLUG’s Becker. He thinks that’s unfortunate. He’d rather work with or hire an IT pro “with no certifications and a firm understanding of the tasks at hand,” instead of someone who has many brand-name certifications and can’t think outside the box.

If you want to sound off, leave a comment below. Thanks to the DC Linux User Group for sharing their thoughts on the subject.

Linux Professional Institute President and CEO Jim Lacey told SearchEnterpriseLinux.com that he believes vendor-neutral Linux certifications are becoming more popular and signal a larger trend within IT of area specialization versus proficiency with a single product. Lacey also tells us where he thinks Linux managers face challenges in the enterprise.

SearchEnterpriseLinux.com: Recently, HP announced that it would require LPI certification as a prerequisite for its HP Certified Professional Program. What are the trends in Linux certification? Which certification sets have fared well in the Linux marketplace?

Jim Lacey: Linux and open source are becoming more entrenched in larger organizations, and the consistent growth of the LPI organization over the past eight quarters is evidence of that. One of the reasons we are seeing growth is because we aren’t allied with a certain product. Our programs are vendor independent.

Vendor-neutral certification is becoming more important. As things become more ubiquitous, it’s becoming more difficult to standardize on any one product or platform; people are becoming more IT focused in different areas rather than skilled with specific products. Whether you started out on Unix or Windows, you really need a wide variety of skills. Obviously, professionals working in markets that are most saturated, such as the Windows certification markets and even in the server market, aside from the [professionals with] power-user certifications, are looking to expand their skill set. Vendor-independent certifications are really starting to take hold, and that’s where we are seeing some of the growth coming from in the IT space.

SEL: So if certifications have become less product oriented, how do people track their professional development? Are they following specialized area interests in, say, virtualization or Web services?

JL: Definitely. This is one of the things that we are starting to see, as people become more familiar with the technology. To address these more specialized areas, LPI launched the LPI Level 3 certification in January 2007. As we took our questions to the global marketplace, we heard that operating in a mixed environment was important to enterprise customers. More specialization occurs at the top, in different vertical areas, such as virtualization and also security, Web services, mail and messaging. These areas can become much more vertical in the future, especially in mixed environments.

SEL: How are Linux administrators using these certifications?

JL: At the higher levels of certification, people who are more senior in the enterprise with three or more years of experience with Linux in a corporate environment are moving into more mission-critical areas.

In years past, people were certainly using Linux, sometimes unbeknownst to the CEO and CIO of their organization, because it was solving print services or Web services problems. But now that it has become more entrenched, people are looking to upgrade what their Linux OS does or Linux environment does. And that’s why you’re seeing success in the Linux IT space, with products like Sugar CRM being deployed, proving its value. Others are also making that same transition.

SEL: What challenges do you see facing Linux managers in the enterprise-level IT space?

JL: Even if a manager is working on a mission adoption curve, a disruptive technology such as Linux or open source always presents a challenge. I think that the biggest challenge is in the amount of applications available. As companies look to migrate, they are looking to user-end applications. Security, portability and scalability are also to be addressed.

When you look at the trends for North American enterprises with between $50 million and $1 billion in revenue, whether they’re in applications, servers, database management or software development, more than 50% of these companies are doing something with open source, including widespread adoption, limited adoption, and evaluating a pilot. And in the enterprise, we are seeing a growing wave in services. As more funding goes behind services, open source usage in companies trends upward.

Some of the figures to which Lacey referred to can be found in the following reports:

Optaros 2005: The Growth of Open Source Software in Organizations
Actuate 2007
Ovum Research 2007

We would like to hear from you. If you have an opinion on vendor-neutral certification, please share it in the comments section below.

For some it is gospel. To others, it is completely mind-bending and new. Sound familiar? We are talking about how people feel about open source and its future in the enterprise. The fact of the matter is clear: Open source software, Linux included, is quickly becoming the disruptive force in IT. Some would say it has become that already.

The analysts at Westport, Conn.-based Saugatuck Technology have taken a liking to this particular topic, and over the past year have really picked the brains of IT managers to find out what they think about open source in the enterprise. If you’re a fan of the open source drama, keep reading.

Open source surges against the norm
Open source software is not following the adoption and deployment paths that most have predicted, according to the latest Saugatuck report, “Open Source as Disruptive Influence: research Study Highlights.”

“It already accounts for as much as 10% of user business software, far more than previously reported or expected by industry insiders and media reports. Thirty-two per cent of user enterprise executives expect that by 2010, more than half of their key on-premise software will be open-source,” said author Bruce Guptill.

The massive adoption rate is one reason why open source software is rapidly becoming one of the most disruptive influences seen on IT and business – for users and for vendors.

We’ve already reported a bit on how Linux fits into this puzzle. In early January Saugatuck penned a report that said a looming Linux surge in Linux deployments meant that 50% of mission critical operations would be conducted on Linux by 2011.

The surge in Linux deployments can be attributed to two distinct factors, Analyst Bill McNee said at the time. “Part of the surge is not necessarily due to Linux itself, but instead is due to the fact that the entire open source applications stack that sits above Linux is now ready for prime time,” he said. Areas like systems management, the database and the aforementioned Web server are all components McNee said were ready to sit on top of Linux in mission critical environments. The second driver for growth comes at the expense of other operating systems currently handling mission critical loads in the data center. This does not include Microsoft Windows, which will remain strong alongside Linux in mixed-OS settings, McNee said.

Right now, Saugatuck’s Guptill said open source’s key advantages for users derive from its community-driven development model. The bulk of these advantages will stem from the use of open source software in every corner of heterogeneous IT shops. In the long term, looking out to 2010, the greatest open source presence in most enterprises will be as components within vendor and SaaS provider solutions, he said. To get to that point, leading look for leading SaaS providers to partner with, be acquired by or acquire leading open source software providers.

Truly, when Matt Asay over at the Open Road said the laid off AppArmor guys from Novell wouldn’t have trouble finding a windfall in some of the up and coming open source vendors out there, he wasn’t kidding.

Open source surges in three stages
Like a rocket, open source will blast off over the next four years in a series of stages. Liftoff happened a while ago for users, who left vendors in the dust to play catch up. “Stage 1: Early adoption,” was one owned by users and basically shunned by vendors, and the rest of the stages are represented in this handy dandy graph complied by Saugatuck:

Image source: Saugatuck Research 2007.

See? Handy.

No open source free lunch
However, while all those arrows are trending upwards, that’s not going to translate into any open source free rides.

“While open source software can reduce the costs of software acquisition and development, and can reduce development time frames and resource needs, it almost always increases management resource requirements,” Guptill said. “This applies to user enterprises and software vendors – including SaaS providers.”

Open source market impact
“Open source’s presence in user enterprises is far from haphazard or accidental – it is increasingly planned and managed as would any other IT asset,” Guptill said. “This requires resources, and user executives understand that. More than half of user enterprises surveyed by Saugatuck indicate that they are dedicating IT management resources to open source acquisition, implementation and ongoing management.”

Good news is that Saugatuck’s research shows the depth and cost of open source software will not exceed the costs of traditional proprietary software in the enterprise. Good news indeed, considering how prevalent it will be in less than four years.

“While pure-play open source is going to continue to gather significant market share in the coming years – we believe that mixed-source software that incorporates open source to reduce development costs and improve user adoption will become a dominant industry trend.

Key points to take home about this disruptive “new” open source technology:

• Open source software’s presence will increase from approximately 10 percent of key user enterprise on-premise software in 2007, to between 15 percent and 20 percent by 2010.
• Through at least 2010, user enterprises will continue to lead most vendors when it comes to understanding the enterprise role and presence of open source software.
• By 2010, more than 50 percent of SaaS vendors will incorporate open source platforms and systems code into their service delivery models, yielding a margin advantage of at least 10 percent over those with solely proprietary stacks.
• While the open source LAMP stack (i.e., operating system, middleware, databases and development tools) will lead most user adoption, open source applications and desktop productivity tools will experience some of the highest growth rates through 2010.
• By 2010, more than 35 percent of new commercial software implementations will include open source components.
• Current barriers to broader user adoption of open source (security, technology/functionality maturity) will largely be resolved by 2010, although licensing issues will remain a critical management challenge through 2012.
• By 2012, four or five dominant open source Master Brands (some of whom will come from a traditional IT software heritage) will emerge, that will influence or control at least 30 percent of the open source software marketplace.

As SearchEnterpriseLinux.com gears up to cover the heck out of the state of Linux support today (a summer support series — how’s that for some alliteration, huh?), I’ve been exchanging emails and phone calls with Linux consultant Patrick Green, of Chicago-based Silver Strand Solutions. Here’s a look at what Green (also an Enterprise Linux Log off-and-on contributor) had to say about his line of work.

The Enterprise Linux Log: What sorts of services do consultants offer over and above a support contract?

Patrick Green: I try to be hands off with the actual heavy lifting. I prefer to educate, inform, and empower the staff of a company to get up to speed. Most of what I have done is provide digestible training materials. If I am not the one executing it, I develop a comprehensive teachers guide and student guide with a .ppt presentation. This will range from a simple desktop tour to authenticating to a Windows environment and even how to position Linux in your sales model.

The other thing I do is look at the macro environment the client exists in. Consultants and sales people do not always give the proper thought to the experience of the guy in the mail room or the receptionist at the front desk. There may be an impact on those people as well and you have to ease the migration burden on them. I compare the migration path to a roadmap for a reason. You have where you are and where you want to be. Some parts of the migration will be simple and others are hard. I like to plan migration in such away that after a tough hurdle, there is a “reward period” where the easy stuff is handled. After said breather, another pain point. These pain points may not be sexy and they may not sell a transition to a platform, but if we are honest, we will know all large IT transitions have these.

TELL: How much do they typically charge?

Green: In my case, I prefer to charge by the project. I have an hourly rate in my mind. After speaking with the potential client, I do what any consultant does. I factor in how long the project will take to develop and execute, add in expenses, justify everything in detail, and set a proposal (ready to negotiate). Typically, my projects average around $4,000-$5,500 a project.

TELL: Are they available as a supplement to support contracts, or to implement larger projects?

Green: Some are. In my case, I prefer not to supplement contracts, but will be happy to implement a larger project. When one goes to conventions, one discovered that convention floors are like a small town that travels. I prefer to build relationships with vendors and support specialists who can handle the long term needs of a client. It is not “passing the buck”, it is giving the client the best service and the best advice for the long haul. There have actually been times where I have turned down business and told a client to contact File Engine, Turtol, or some other vendor knowing that what they want and need can be best handled by those people. I then give the vendor a heads up call and let them know the customers needs in brief so they can give the client the best possible solution.

In the case of a larger implementation, my methods are similar. I will gladly draw up a roadmap, dot the i’s and cross the t’s, and help them find the best distro and service that they need for their project.

If I were to use a really bad analogy, it would be this. Picture Red Hat or Novell as Ford or GM looking to provide a company with fleet vehicles. They provide the cars with the options and the warranties and the service contracts. I am a cross between a driver’s ed instructor and a purchasing consultant. Someone has to help them learn to drive and know how many vans they need in their fleet to do what they need to do, where to store them, how large a service contract, how often to change the oil (and are you better served having the oil changed at the dealership or the Jiffy Lube down the street or hire a guy), wash em, etc.

TELL: Look for more on Linux support best practices at SearchEnterpriseLinux.com coming soon.