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Please forgive me as I dust off a cliché from the 1990s business press - the Business Ecosystem - which, despite its overuse, really is a good concept that can be effective when appropriately applied. Dictionary.com defines an ecosystem as "An ecological community, together with its environment, functioning as a unit." Porting this concept to business, you get something like: "A community of businesses functioning together in a common operating environment to solve customers' problems."

When it comes to helping businesses migrate their corporate servers from Microsoft to Linux, the "common operating environment" that the members of the ecosystem must work together on equates to the very real business issues that CIOs and IT directors face with such migrations. Based on conversations with customers and partners and analysis from research firms and other experts, these issues include:

1.  Support
2.  Linux server sys admin tools for:

• Initial configuration porting from Microsoft to Linux
• Bare metal and bulk template provisioning
• Ongoing configuration management
• Patch management

3.  The need for more Linux applications

Support concerns should wane in the large enterprise segment as Dell, HP, IBM, Novell, and Sun join Red Hat to serve this space directly. I think Linux support in the SMB market will improve as more solution providers (aka VARs) get more active in this space. Linux application availability is just a matter of time and of pressure from large customers to get their vendors to port applications to Linux. With respect to the availability of server sys admin tools, no single Linux company addresses all of the needs listed above.

An ecosystem of Linux companies is required in order to deliver a seamless solution for customers seeking to make large-scale server migrations from Microsoft to Linux, including needs assessment, implementation, intuitive and comprehensive sys admin tools, and post-sales support. For lack of a better term, let's call this the Microsoft to Linux Server Migration Ecosystem.

Follow the Leader...

For any ecosystem to be effective and efficient, a leader is required. A Forrester Research report a few years ago about IT service networks provides a good model for the ecosystem leader role. The premise of the report was that IT departments spend an increasing percentage of their budgets on services, and that these services were, at the time of the report, often delivered by a disjointed group of niche service providers.

Forrester pointed out that IT departments would much rather deal principally with one trusted "master" IT service provider who would then coordinate the activities of other specialized IT subcontractors.

This concept is akin to the buyer of a custom-built home who wants to deal with a trusted master homebuilder who, in turn, manages the activities of the specialist subcontractors. Consider this: everyone knows Bob Vila, but how many of us remember the name of the driveway guy? This same leadership role is required for the Microsoft to Linux Server Migration Ecosystem to succeed.

Potential ecosystem leaders include Linux systems integrators and solution providers (e.g., VARs), hardware vendors, distribution vendors, and large ISVs. To be effective, the ecosystem leader must be trusted, both by the subordinate members of the ecosystem and, of course, by the customer. To earn the trust of the customer requires a complete commitment to solving their problems and following through with effective solutions. To be trusted by the other members of the ecosystem is a bit more complex. Here, the leader must:

1. Have an unmistakable interest in the success of Linux
2. Publicly articulate a cogent Linux strategy
3. Follow through on that strategy

Operationalize It

If you agree that this ecosystem is needed, how does it get started and what might some first steps be? Here are a couple ideas: get a nucleus together under the umbrella of a leader and together attend a Microsoft-specific, or general IT industry, trade show with a coordinated set of messages targeted at picking off one-by-one these valid and surmountable concerns that IT executives face when migrating from Microsoft to Linux servers. Beyond just coordinating marketing messages among ecosystem members, there is also a need to coordinate licensing among ecosystem members to ensure that project ROI is strong and that the solution is simple and seamless for the customer. Success will require leaders to give up some control, followers to give up some margin, and all ecosystem members to share the limelight, but I have no doubt that success is achievable. As President Truman famously said, "Anything is possible, if you don't care who gets the credit."