What is the main benefit CIOs and IT Directors are recognizing from their use of open source software? Drastically reduced costs.

Those reduced costs, however, are actually enablers of a more important movement that CIOs are unlocking for their companies: innovation.

The creativity and innovation taking place at companies such as Google, Yahoo! and Amazon have led executives just like you to explore how a similar approach could accelerate innovation in their own companies.

By systematically and massively using open source wherever they could, Internet pioneers have been able to benefit from significantly lower infrastructure costs, freeing up considerable resources they could invest in creating value for their customers.

Smart CIOs understand that by leveraging open source software, they can unlock resources to create value. They look at open source as a growth opportunity and leverage it to:

• Realize significant cost savings by using open source software wherever appropriate
• Accelerate Innovation by freeing up budget to create value for their customers, and differentiating themselves above the infrastructure level
• Make their organization more flexible and agile with a simpler infrastructure that is easier to use, easier to maintain and easier to scale-out

Disruptive technologies, such as the telephone over century ago, and more recently digital photography, the PC or open source software often tend to be initially discounted as non meaningful by (too) many executives. But ultimately while some companies leverage disruptive technologies to generate new growth, others don't, and at best lose their competitive edge. The below examples speak for themselves:

Disruption is hard at work in the software industry. According to IDC, Linux servers now already account for 12.7% of the overall server market. And MySQL's market share among developers has surged to 40% gaining 25% in the last two years according to Evans Data Corporation.