Businesses converting from UNIX to Linux shun IT retraining, says Yankee Group

According to Yankee Group, 81% of corporations converting their legacy UNIX networks to the newer Linux environment will not retrain or recertify their internal IT administrators on the newer Linux distributions and applications.

"Most businesses regard Linux as a UNIX derivative that shares much of the same code and the same 'look and feel' as existing AIX, HP-UX and Solaris implementations," said Yankee's Phil Fersht, in a recent report (client reg. req.).  While he would find such rationale acceptable (but hardly advisable) if businesses were solely concerned with standalone network operating system upgrades, the reality is quite different; there is no such thing as a straightforward network upgrade.  "Networks are labyrinths of interdependencies…today, as never before, most companies are wholly dependent on their networks," Fersht cautioned.

Recommendations: If you're migrating to Linux, this is one area where you may not want to take short cuts. Find the money and the time to retrain appropriate IT personnel, Fersht advised. Also negotiate with Linux vendors for discounted or free technical service and support, and if you are a larger company, engage the services of external service providers.