As the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, Red Hat, through our flagship Linux operating system Red Hat Enterprise Linux, has long maintained a strong presence in the enterprise operating system market. This leadership continues, as a new report from IDC positions Red Hat as a driving Linux force in the worldwide server operating environment market and a powerful player in server operating systems at-large.

According to "Worldwide Server Operating Environments Market Shares, 2017," a global server operating system market sizing report from research firm IDC, Red Hat maintained a 32.7 percent share of worldwide server operating environments in 2017. This encompassed all operating systems, with Red Hat coming in behind only Microsoft in terms of market share. Within the Linux segment, IDC found that Red Hat Enterprise Linux adoption grew by nearly 20 percent in 2017.

This growth is a sign of broader adoption of Linux for enterprise use in general. The same report shows that non-paid and paid Linux combined more than doubled the share of other operating systems in 2017. According to IDC, Linux has firmly established itself as a preferred delivery vehicle for modern enterprise applications. Linux is now an essential capability in the standard tool kit of enterprise IT and developers.

We at Red Hat already believed that Linux, specifically enterprise-grade Linux like that provided by Red Hat Enterprise Linux, would provide the platform for the modern enterprise. The IDC report indicates that this transition isn’t just poised to happen, but that it’s happening right now. From Linux containers and Kubernetes to big data and artificial intelligence/machine-learning applications, Linux is providing a flexible, adaptable, and open linchpin for organizations upon which organizations can build their future.