Richard Voaden, IBM north region Linux software sales manager, says Linux is well on the way to getting over the stigma of not being good enough for mission-critical applications. "IBM is beginning to deploy it in that way in manufacturing and financial trading."
Voaden says about 44% of Linux servers are replacing servers that formerly used other operating systems because Linux is much more cost-effective. He points out that Linux enables companies to exploit commodity hardware from Intel rather than specialised hardware from a Unix provider.
"If you were interested in Linux, you would look to make a decision based around total cost of ownership. If you are going to put in a small Unix system for infrastructure, server consolidation, or a specific application, I would urge you to look at an Intel system running Linux because the hardware will be significantly cheaper."
Voaden says a local authority in the UK was about to put a Websphere portal onto Unix, but changed to Linux to realise a 70% reduction in hardware costs.
"With larger organisations, savings are achieved through flexibility that enables things like server consolidation. Many organisations have realised the real costs of running 500 servers is a lot higher than running five big servers, and the Linux environment on the mainframes is particularly well suited to that."
He says the flexibility of Linux has also resulted in some companies moving to mainframes for the first time because they can put 50 servers onto a single machine.
Voaden says businesses are moving beyond server consolidation and dedicated servers to expand the ways they are using Linux. "Significant interest is already here and projects are happening. I would like to see Linux accepted as a mainstream platform, embraced by the majority of organisations where it makes sense to do so."
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