Just sharing some thoughts on FOSS businesses in the US, based on data I've collected on nearly 1000 companies.

I re-opened a survey of companies providing services around Free/Open Source Software that I began sometime last year. I've misplaced some of the earlier files, which held fairly accurate findings on the data I collected. I was trying to re-open this in April, and even managed to finally complete my data set (realizing that the landscape is always changing).

I'm not about to engage in scientific analysis yet, but am planning to continue my research into the nature of businesses providing FOSS services here. My data set consists of 984 companies listed in various publicly-available databases. All entries shared between multiple databases have been eliminated from my set. Not all businesses listed are still active, but some interesting observations are readily apparent with respect to the marketplace.

Of the 984 businesses I found, close to half have no active website or contact information. During my efforts to communicate with some of these businesses, a number of people indicated that they had listed themselves as consultants during periods of unemployment, only to find a new job later on. Some businesses have been bought out. Others have closed their doors inexplicably. Rather than assume they all failed, I will simply suggest they are no longer in business. After all, I can't say these businesses failed if I can't verify why they are no longer in business.

One interesting fact is that, of those that remain active, the average lifespan seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 9-10 years. People might be surprised to learn just how many really have been around for well over that many years.

Most of the businesses are either small shops with 2-5 employees, or sizable, multi-faceted consulting firms with numerous employees spread out across the country and globe. Also, several businesses actively marketed Free Software, FOSS, and/or GNU/Linux as their sole focus. The vast majority seem to offer systems integration as their mainstay. Still others offer a mix of hardware and services, usually offering GNU/Linux systems as an optional choice. This does not account for LXer.com's GNU/Linux Vendor Database.

Arkansas seems to have the fewest businesses offering FOSS services - I only found two in my efforts. There are probably more, but that was all I found. As for which state has the most, it's probably California, though a few others will sure give it a run for its money on that note. Regionally, it looks like the largest concentrations lie in the West/Northwest, the Northeast and Florida.

Additionally, many businesses offering FOSS services also focused heavily on web hosting and development services as another line of business. In terms of distribution support, my findings appear to support the conclusion that Red Hat is the most widely-used and supported GNU/Linux distro in the US, though it certainly is not the only one.

I also tried to ascertain how many offer technical support for the software they offer, but the results vary widely, and I cannot draw a conclusion based on just a cursory glance. One last thing I will note, though, is that quite a few of the business owners (or perhaps employees in some cases) are actually serious contributors to the FOSS community.

As I said in the beginning, I am not trying to provide any scientifically-correct information here, but simply telling a story about the FOSS marketplace in America. I'll try to get back on this in short order, but do give me a little time. I've got my work cut out for me.