An annual survey conducted by CETIC (Center for Study of Information Technology & Communications) found that the use of free software in mid-sized and enterprise companies continued to grow through 2009. The survey, TIC Empresas 2009, has been surveying commercial trends in Brazil’s growing technology markets for five years now.

While government adoption of free software is ordered by presidential decree, voluntary commercial adoption continues to grow in Brazil. The survey found that open source software has been adopted in 65% of large business, up from 61% in 2006. For mid-sized companies, open source adoption increased to 49% in 2009, up from 44% in 2007 and 2008.

The study found that 35% of the companies had adopted free software at the operating system level (mostly Linux).

Alexandre Barbosa, a spokesperson for CETIC, said that “[t]he increase for Linux and other open source operating systems in mid-level and large businesses reflects a search for cost reduction, greater security and the fact that there are more professionals specializing in [open source].”

This analysis is in line with NorthxSouth’s own observations: that the widespread adoption of free software by the government, public schools and digital divide programs has created a unique talent pool in Brazil of IT workers and programmers that creates a bias in the labor pool that favors open source.

Another NXS organizational favorite — remote collaboration — is also trending upwards in Brazil. The survey found that telecommuting is used by 25% of companies in Brazil, a 10% increase since 2006. For large companies, working remotely is even more widespread, at 62%. Forty-three percent of mid-size companies use remote work arrangements while only 20% of small businesses have adopted it.

Finally, the survey also revealed corporate vigilance against the use of social networks on company time: 48% of the companies surveyed ban the use of Facebook, Twitter and Orkut (the most popular social network in Brazil).