French Gendarmerie switch 85,000 PC’s to Ubuntu and save €€€

“France’s Gendarmerie Nationale recently decided to review its
IT infrastructure policies. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu,
now reports the police force has upgraded its 85,000 PCs to Ubuntu
Desktop Edition, removing its reliance on the Microsoft operating
system completely. As well as simplifying maintenance and improving
ease of use, Ubuntu Desktop Edition is saving “les flics” €2m
a year just in licence fees. Moreover, the force has also
re-purposed 4,500 machines to act as local servers, dramatically
reducing its hardware expenditure.

“The Gendarmerie has also found that Ubuntu Desktop is much
easier to manage and maintain than Windows. Updates and upgrades
can be made quickly and easily. Previously, an IT administrator
needed to be traveling all year to physically install new versions
of anti-virus applications on the desktops in the Gendarmerie’s
outposts – some of which are as far away as French Polynesia.
A similar operation can now be completed within 2 weeks and
requires no traveling at all.”

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