Although Linux poses "some migration risks", the operating system is maturing rapidly and will be ready to go head-to-head with Windows on corporate desktops within two years, industry analysts have predicted.

UK-based analyst Butler Group also maintained that the open source platform is ready to be considered as a viable alternative in the data centre.

Butler Group claimed that Linux as an enterprise server operating system could enable businesses to reduce the number of operating systems they run, thereby reducing operating costs. But the analyst warned that this comes with "some risks".

"Linux does not provide a universal remedy and suffers from the same issues of deployment and maintenance as other platforms," Butler Group stated in its report.

"There is a risk that companies moving to Linux, without management processes in place and centralised control of the IT environment, will suffer during any migration."

Windows continues to be an effective alternative, according to the analyst, scoring well in the areas of integration and ease of use.

But Butler Group believes that Linux has evolved into a dependable, enterprise-ready environment capable of meeting business and technical requirements and will, in future years, share the operating system market with Microsoft.

The analyst's Report on Linux in the Enterprise noted that Linux is agnostic towards the hardware platform with which it operates, removing the need for close coupling between the operating system and specific hardware.

This portability, the study said, presents the IT manager with the leverage to maximise the best price from hardware vendors, which is especially important as organisations move into the 64-bit world.

"Linux has global coverage, with support from companies such as IBM, Oracle, SAP and Siebel, making it a viable strategic option," the report stated.

"This ecosystem is developing quickly and is a major driver for the adoption of Linux, especially for the main enterprise distributions from Red Hat and Novell."