'Governments worldwide are spending more than US$3 billion a year on Linux hardware, software and services, and this is growing at 35 percent a year,' she said. 'But it's the U.S. military that is spending the most. They view it as a source of innovation.'

Fisher, a 26-year IBM veteran, was in New Zealand recently to speak at a seminar organized by GOVIS, the organization for government IT managers.

'Governments are saving taxpayer money by leveraging open standards,' she said.

Fisher is emphatic about IBM's commitment to Linux in particular and open source generally. 'We have 15,000 engineers dedicated to Linux, and 10,000 services people. There are 30,000 staff running a Linux pilot on the desktop.'

IBM's whole vision is to provide the best infrastructure that embraces open systems, Fisher said.