Federal agencies are making progress in using open source software (OSS) to transition to cloud computing, but contractors are much further along the learning curve and have valuable lessons they can share.

That’s one conclusion from Market Connections’ new study, “The Intersection of Open Source and the Cloud.” Market Connections joined with Lockheed Martin, Eucalyptus Systems and Red Hat to present a webinar on the study May 11. More than 200 people registered for the webinar, the majority of them government IT professionals.

Cynthia Poole, the Market Connections research director who led the study, reported that two-thirds of respondents expect the use of OSS to increase over the next 12 to 18 months. “This is a paradigm shift,” she said. “Few government agencies are contributing to open source, but that’s expected to increase.”