Companies today are growing increasingly frustrated with proprietary solutions. Expensive vendor 'lock-in' situations - including the mounting pressure from proprietary vendors to migrate or upgrade customers to more complex, expensive versions of their systems - leave little choice but to pay premium fees or fall behind. What's more, today's popular computing platforms are raising concerns over security, reliability and performance. Hence, Open Source alternatives, and Linux in particular, are looking more and more attractive to business and IT decision makers.

There is little doubt that many companies are starting to move away from proprietary software and embrace Linux and open source. The reasons are compelling

• Linux has become the fastest growing operating system in the industry and is increasingly accepted as a legitimate alternative to UNIX and Microsoft Windows.
  
• Adopting a Linux strategy can dramatically cut costs by lowering license and maintenance fees, enabling deployment on less expensive hardware platforms, increasing system uptime, and optimizing investments in people and IT resources.
  
• Major players like IBM, Sun, HP and Oracle have made significant commitments to Linux and open source.

But here's the catch: while many companies understand the potential benefits of Linux and open source, few have the skills and experience required to research, plan and execute a successful implementation or migration. IT executives ask: How will we transition our critical systems to Linux without jeopardizing our core business processes? How can we be sure we have the applications and tools we need? What about integrating and consolidating all of our disparate systems? And, perhaps most important of all: Who can we contact if something goes wrong? The stakes could not be higher since the consequences of a poor transition strategy can be fatal. So companies are looking for ways to reduce their risks. The answer is to engage with a trusted partner who will assist them in planning and implementing all phases of a successful migration to Linux and open source. Obviously, the ideal partner is one who understands your company's needs, has the knowledge and experience to implement the most appropriate solution, and who will be around for the long haul.