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Global Groundswell
Yet when you're talking about an operating system, what often matters most is who is implementing it and the business benefits early adopters have seen. According to Stacey Quandt, associate analyst at the Giga Information Group, numerous European companies, including Reliance Mutual, IKEA, France Telecom, and Allegiance Global Investments, have already implemented Linux. In Japan, recent converts include NTT DoCoMo and DEODEO. "While Linux is an engine of next-generation e-business infrastructure [worldwide], the companies deploying Linux represent a variety of vertical segments, including transportation, retail, insurance, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, entertainment, and services," says Quandt. "Giga believes the use of Linux in Asia Pacific will increase rapidly in comparison with North America and Europe." In fact, the People's Republic of China officially backs Linux, and the OS also appears throughout Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. According to Dan Kusnetzky, vice president of systems software research at IDC, Linux strikes a particularly strong chord outside the U.S. "Linux is more attractive internationally because it's not owned by a U.S.-based company, it's available worldwide, and it runs on less expensive machines," says Kusnetzky. Within the U.S., federal agencies such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research, the Energy Department's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and the National Institutes of Health now use clusters of Linux servers for handling tasks such as scientific visualization. The National Institute of Standards and Technology Center for Neutron Research chose Linux because it needed cheap, uninterrupted performance for months on end. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wanted to ensure performance of its NauticalCharts.gov Web site. Meanwhile, the municipal government in Garden Grove, California, which runs its networks, e-mail, and databases on Linux, has experienced no down time for four years. U.S. companies such as Amerada Hess and J.P. Morgan use Linux for key business operations. Amerada Hess, for example, uses Linux to run a supercomputing cluster for oil and gas exploration. At J.P. Morgan, Linux is used for global derivatives risk management. Retailers are also active. "Home Depot is in the process of rolling out a Linux point-of-sale solution that will eventually extend to 90,000 Linux cash registers," says Quandt. start | Previous | More |