The world probably doesn’t need another “Linux in the
enterprise” story, looking down the road to see where Linux is
going in big businesses, but a review of the stories in the Linux
Today archives about major Linux enterprise deployments over the
past two years paints a very interesting and impressive picture of
where it is right now.
by John Wolley, Linux
Today
It seems like every few weeks there’s another story about “Linux
in the Enterprise.” A year ago these stories tended to pose the
question: is Linux ready to move out of its web/file/print serving
niche and take on mission-critical applications in the business
world? And the answers, even when an article described a major
Linux deployment, tended to hedge, tended to focus on the
shortcomings of Linux and how it’s not for all businesses, but only
the most adventurous ones that have the in-house technical
expertise to deal with it.
Some of the stories a year ago qualified as hardcore FUD —
fear, uncertainty, and doubt — ignoring the reality that Linux
was already being used for mission-critical applications
by a number of companies and focusing only on reasons to support
the author’s opinion that Linux still was “not ready for prime
time.”
Current stories tend to be considerably more positive. “Linux in
the enterprise” stories today typically point out how Linux has
rapidly evolved, note that it’s now capable of taking on tasks
beyond at least some “mission critical” tasks, and
describe the recent announcements of major vendors like IBM and
Oracle which have launched programs to promote and support Linux in
the enterprise.
But what is Linux actually being used for in enterprise settings
today, beyond its historic stronghold as a web/file/print server? A
tour of the Linux Today archives shows quite an interesting and
impressive array of applications. The information below is arranged
by industry groupings, within which it’s in order by the name of
the company doing the deployment.
Worth noting:
- Announcements of Linux deployments have been pretty steady over
the last two years. - More Linux deployments are taking place in the retailing sector
than in any other industry grouping. - This is not an exhaustive list of all the Linux deployment
stories in the Linux Today archives. Those that were not related
directly to large businesses have been omitted, as have those that
focused on the web/file/print server niche.
Finance
Allegiance Global Investments (AGI), based in
Guilford, England, is a commodities broker that is running “a
proprietary application for forecasting the movement of highly
volatile derivatives markets called DNX Trading Technology” on a
Linux Beowulf cluster. Beowulf clustering worked for AGI “because
of the way it works with lots of independent modelling pieces that
interact”. AGI “migrated from a Windows NT platform to a Linux
cluster has seen a five or sixfold boost in performance when
running its derivatives market forecasting application.” (ZDNet/UK 9/99)
Hill House Hammond, “one of the largest
insurance intermediaries in the United Kingdom — is deploying Pick
Systems’ D3 Linux DBMS server for Red Hat to their 250 branches.
… The rollout has already started, with close to two dozen
branches already installed. Staging at the head office in Bristol,
England for servers and related software has been completed.”
(PRNewswire
8/99) “Hill House Hammond is now proudly running Linux on IBM
Netfinity servers as its network platform, and has integrated the
OS with its sales and services database, developed by Pick
Systems.” (ZDNet/UK 9/99)
Noridian Mutual Insurance Company, with about
1800 employees, selected Linux, Sendmail, and a variety of open
source programs to replace their outdated cc:Mail email system.
Their conclusion: “…our Linux-based solution for e-mail has been
a tremendous success. It is difficult to determine an exact dollar
figure saved compared to the other solutions considered. The amount
saved on client licenses alone has more than paid for our solution.
We are distributing mail servers based on this configuration to all
of our offices throughout the U.S.” (Linux Today
11/99)
Reliance Mutual Insurance, based in Kent,
England, is “is overhauling its IT infrastructure by rolling out
about 200 desktop PCs on the Linux operating system.” Reliance is
replacing VT220 terminals, “using low-cost PCs running Linux to
give users access to HP-UX software and applications running on an
ICL mainframe”–and the total cost of a Linux workstation is less
than the replacement cost for a VT220 terminal. “Reliance Mutual’s
data processing manager Steve Hnizdur told Computer
Weekly, ‘We… did not want Microsoft’s horrendous licensing
and management costs. “Reliance first conducted a trial with 20
PCs, and now “plans to deploy Linux in a phased roll-out starting
in October and due for completion in December 2000.” (quotes from
Computer
Weekly/UK 9/99; additional coverage in Computer Weekly/UK
10/99)
Lodging
Cendant Corp., “the world’s largest franchiser
of hotels, is rolling out Linux [Caldera OpenLinux] servers at
about 4,000 hotels to run the company’s hotel management software.
…began the massive rollout early last year and expects to finish
in September…” (ComputerWorld
3/99). “At a cost of $75 million, …is installing the
open-source operating system to run reservation management software
at 4,000 locations”; the Linux systems were initially rolled out in
eight hotel chains, including Ramada and Days Inn, before Cendant
committed to equip all of its franchisees with Linux (PC Week 7/99). ” ‘We
didn’t make a conscious decision to move to Linux,’ says Cendant VP
of IT Scott Gibson. ‘But the cost of the software and the fact that
we could run it on inexpensive hardware were attributes of Linux
that made the product itself attractive to us.’ ” (Planet IT
11/99)
Manufacturing
B.F. Goodrich‘s “Richfield, Ohio, aerospace
parts manufacturer became an early supporter of Linux. At its Grand
Rapids, Mich., office, the open-source operating system replaced a
Banyan Systems Inc. VINES network… Linux’s role at that location
has expanded to Web server and DNS (Domain Name System)
applications. And it will probably continue to expand, at least as
long as Linux sticks to its open-source roots, said Tom Stoddard,
systems and database manager for the Midwest office.” (PC Week 6/99)
Kaiser Aluminum “…decided to use Linux in the
manufacturing process when Kaiser reengineered its computing
architecture several years ago. … There are more than 20 Linux
systems in the plant’s production environment… They track quality
control, manage machines, monitor the production process, and
produce quality reports. … Kaiser is also using Linux to run
Oracle database software that tracks chemistry at the mill. In
addition, many of Kaiser’s manufacturing systems engineers are
running Linux on their workstations and Kaiser uses Linux servers
for sharing files. The company is using Linux boxes from Interlogic
Industries Inc., and VA Linux Systems Inc.” (EarthWeb
8/00)
Spanco, an international manufacturer of
industrial cranes, headquartered in Morgantown, PA, with offices in
the US, Canada and Mexico, enlisted LinuxForce to complete the
“design, construction and installation of a high-end file server as
the first step in the migration of Spanco to Linux-powered
computing systems to support their world-wide operations.”
(LinuxPR
9/99)
Motion Pictures
Weta Digital, of Wellington, NZ, found that
their “ability to process work on the Lord of the Rings movie
trilogy has just dramatically improved – with big savings to boot”
as a result of replacing their multi-processor Unix servers costing
over $1 million with 16 dual-processor SGI 1200 servers funning
Linux. “It’s high performance with low overhead and low cost. It’s
all about bangs for bucks. …[Weta chief technical officer Jon]
Labrie said being able to run this on Linux drastically reduced the
costs involved, and was a watershed for the animation industry.”
(New
Zealand Herald, 8/00)
Petroleum Exploration
Conoco “has built a Linux-based supercomputer
for finding oil and gas beneath the Earth’s surface, saying the
machine costs a tenth of the average price of a conventional
supercomputer. … The machine can perform 500 billion calculations
per second… Conoco decided its Linux machine was a good idea,
even accounting for the $4 million cost of rewriting its software.
… Another advantage of Conoco’s system is that it can be split
into several independent pieces that can be taken to different
parts of the globe where seismic research is being conducted…
(CNET
8/00)
Amerada Hess Corp. (New York-based, $6.6
billion global oil company) recently saved “millions of dollars” by
replacing an “IBM SP2 system running AIX that the company paid $2
million to lease for three years” with a 32-PC Linux Beowulf
cluster–for $130,000. Moving to an NT cluster would have saved
only “hundreds of thousands of dollars” (ComputerWorld 5/99).
PC Week
(7/99) pegged the total cost at $400,000 for 96 Dell
workstations (apparently in three 32-PC Beowulf clusters), but
noted that “cost wasn’t the only reason the company decided to go
with Linux; reliability was also key. Each job on the system runs
for two to three weeks.” An article in Planet IT (11/99)
spelled out the magnitude of the price-performance advantage
Amerada Hess got with Linux: ” ‘Our mainframe cost us about $2
million including maintenance fees, and our Linux system cost us
about $400,000,’ explains senior systems programmer Jeff Davis.
‘But we get three times the processing power now, so the overall
price/performance improvement is 15X.’ “
Retailing
Burlington Coat Factory first evaluated Linux
as an alternative to thin-client systems, and found that “PCs
running Linux deliver all the benefits of thin-client hardware and
more”; that led Burlington to plan to “port its Solaris in-store,
line-of-business applications to Linux to let the company have the
same operating system across clients and servers, as well as extend
the life span of about 300 aging Sun Microsystems SPARC
servers”(Internet
Week 12/98). Then in April ’98 Burlington committed to “the
largest Linux retail installation announced by a U.S. company [at
that time]”, a “$1 million-plus deployment at the $1.8 billion
Burlington, N.J., discounter”. Linux was selected because of
“better price/performance than NT”. (ComputerWorld 2/99).
The Linux Rollout involves 1,250 Dell Optiplex desktop PCs to be
used in 264 stores in 42 states “for office management and to
administer its Baby Registry, as well as to handle its back office
shipping and receiving functions.” (InfoWorld 4/99). The
story made headlines in CNNfn 4/99. Michael
Prince, Burlington CIO, gave a keynote presentation on the Linux
rollout at LinuxWorld Expo in San Jose, in August 1999 (Business Wire 6/99).
Additional coverage on this very successful Linux deployment
appeared in ComputerWorld
(8/99a), ZDNet
(8/99), and ComputerWorld
(8/99b).
Home Depot, which “expects to operate 1,600
stores by 2002 and have 90,000 remote PCs and PC-based cash
registers to manage by then”, has embarked on a pilot project to
prove the feasibility of using Linux to manage its mushrooming
population of in-store PCs. “Linux would allow support engineers at
the company’s Atlanta headquarters to manage the basic settings of
each machine from within a Web browser. … Although Home Depot
could have eased its Windows remote management problems by putting
a Windows NT server in each store, that move would have been very
costly.” (ComputerWorld
6/99)
Jay Jacobs, apparel retailer, “…will replace
all their check-out (DOS-based) systems with Linux. …will deploy
an application suite on Linux in its 115 stores and at the
company’s Seattle headquarters… …will save around $1,000 per
site by using Linux… But cost savings represented just part of
Linux’s appeal… ‘As we drilled into Linux, we found it to be a
very solid, reliable andhigh-performance OS…’ ” (InternetWeek 11/98).
Jay Jacobs, apparel retailer with 130 stores, “…is on the verge
of implementing one of the most cutting-edge and cost-effective
systems around: Linux as the operating system in the stores,
running Apropos retail software with an Informix back-end database
(InfoWorld
12/98). “Jay Jacobs is spending $1.7 million this year — about
2.5% of its revenue — to replace the ancient DOS-based systems at
its headquarters and in its 120 stores.” (ComputerWorld 2/99).
Unfortunately, Jay Jacobs folded (Linux Today 9/99)
before their Linux implementation could be completed.
MVC, a major UK music retailer, has installed
Linux throughout its stores in the UK. “Over 900 Electronic Point
of Sale (EPS) devices in MVC stores will operate across a network
of IBM Netfinity servers running Linux. … ‘Measured against all
our key requirements, Linux beat the competition hands down. We
believe it to be the fastest, most cost-effective solution,
especially for our new IP-based EPoS terminals,’ said Steve Jarvis,
store systems manager at MVC Entertainment.”
ZDNet UK, 7/00)
RFM Corporation (Philippines) “wasn’t impressed
with the way MS Exchange performed when its IT group tested it”,
and so rejected “…the P28 million [US$730,000] proposal from
Microsoft Corp. to install a whole gamut of MS Exchange-based
solutions, and instead spend only P300,000 [US$7800] for a
compatible server and consulting service to run Linux. …RFM has
upgraded its Red Hat Linux for the fourth time — and always for
free through the Internet. … the company is now looking at other
areas where it can implement Linux…” (ComputerWorld Philippines
7/99)
Wherehouse “…is testing Linux on IBM
Netfinity Servers, which will store up to 36G bytes of compressed
audio clips that customers can sample in listening booths, said
Brad Barrish, [Wherehouse] director of special projects…. The
580-store chain said it’s testing the system in its Texas stores
and will roll it out to 15 top stores later this year.” (quotes
from ComputerWorld 8/99;
other coverage in SRO 8/99)
Services
For Gannett Co.‘s Offset Telematch unit in
Springfield, Va. Linux’s low cost was just one factor… The unit
processes demographic and contact data for marketers and
fund-raisers. Linux cost the company $300 per server vs. $1,500 for
a Data General Corp. Unix system, and it runs on cheaper PCs… The
unit will use Linux as the operating system for its data servers to
run Informix database software. … the decision to switch to
Linux, as well as the unit’s widespread use of Linux elsewhere, is
also driven by its reliability…” (ComputerWorld
2/99).
Transportation
Canadian National Railway is running web, email
and DNS applications on 100 Intel servers distributed around
Canada, all administered from Montreal; Linux reliability and ease
of remote administration were key reasons for its selection
(PC Week
5/99).
GetLoaded.com is using Baymountain, Inc.’s
Linux-based services to “bringing together truckers with empty
trucks and companies with loads to move. … Getloaded.com provides
truckers with real-time access to an average of 15,000 loads a day,
24 hours a day. With huge amounts of time-sensitive data and a
large number of users, Getloaded.com requires a scalable IT
infrastructure that is accessible and reliable.” (LinuxPR,
8/00)
Northwest Airlines “…is spending about $34
million to convert its 23 flight simulators from various older
platforms such as VAX to Pentium II-based systems running Linux…”
(ComputerWorld
5/99)
Utilities
Southwestern Bell “relies on 36 computers
running Linux… to keep a close eye on its telephone network in”
Kansas and Missouri. “Since April of 1998, technicians at
Southwestern Bell’s Kansas City, Mo., network operations center
have been using Linux to keep an around-the-clock watch on
thousands of miles of telephone lines and fiber optic cables, as
well as on more than 600 telephone routing switches. … In
addition to the 36 primary systems, Southwestern Bell bought two
extra Linux-based PCs… These are kept running as hot-standby
systems, ready to be used at any time if one of the monitoring
systems should fail. But the hot standbys ‘have never been placed
into service’… because none of the Linux systems has ever
failed.” (Datamation 8/99)
Related Stories — Major Linux Enterprise Deployments:
ComputerWorld: Update: Conoco deploys Linux-based supercomputer for
use in oil exploration(Sep 06, 2000)
EarthWeb: Linux in Manufacturing: Building Linux up [at Kaiser
Aluminum](Aug 31, 2000)
CNET News.com: Conoco hopes to hit oil with slick [Linux]
supercomputer(Aug 31, 2000)
New Zealand Herald: Lord of the Rings [movie] realism moves up a
step [w/Linux & SGI](Aug 22, 2000)
LinuxPR: Getloaded.com Loads More Trucks with Help from
Baymountain, Linux ASP (Aug 14, 2000)
ZDNet UK: UK music store [MVC] loves Linux(Jul 05, 2000)
Grand Prize Winner: Linux in Business – Case Study Implementation
of Corporate E-mail Solution(Nov 07, 1999)
Computer
Weekly UK: Linux roll-out proves a winner for Reliance(Oct 07,
1999)
Computer
Weekly UK: Reliance gambles on Linux(Sep 30, 1999)
ZDNET
UK: Linux cluster cuts cost for commodity broker [Allegiance Global
Investments](Sep 17, 1999)
LinuxPR:
Spanco Inc. Migrates to Linux(Sep 14, 1999)
Retailer
Jay Jacobs Folds — Early Linux Adopter Files for Chapter
11(Sep 07, 1999)
ComputerWorld:
Retailer [Jay Jacobs] Bets Big on Linux(Feb 09, 1999)
InfoWorld:
Linux brings Jay Jacobs to cutting edge(Dec 12, 1998)
Internet
Week: Retail Chain Buys Into Open-Source Linux OS(Nov 07,
1998)
ZDNET
UK: Insurance firm [Hill House Hammond] gets the Linux bug(Sep
21, 1999)
ComputerWorld:
The Linux game [at Burlington Coat](Aug 23, 1999)
Datamation:
Piecing together Linux [Southwestern Bell](Sep 01, 1999)
ZDNet:
Burlington Coat Factory wears Linux well(Aug 13, 1999)
PRNewswire:
Hill House Hammond… Pick Systems… World’s Largest…
Financial… Linux Deployment(Aug 10, 1999)
ComputerWorld:
Burlington Coat Factory Finds That Linux Runs Smoothly, Despite
Lack of Support(Aug 09, 1999)
SRO:
Linux Not Mission Critical Ready? [Wherehouse](Aug 06,
1999)
ComputerWorld:
Linux ‘Appliance’ Serves Music Samples at [Wherehouse]
Stores(Aug 04, 1999)
ComputerWorld
Philippines: How RFM saved P27.7M(Jul 16, 1999)
PC
Week: Linux for mission-critical apps? Not so crazy [Amerada Hess
& Cendant](Jul 07, 1999)
PC
Week: Rolling down the Linux highway [B.F. Goodrich
deployment](Jun 28, 1999)
Enterprise Linux Today: Linuxcare and Netaid(Jun 22, 2000)
Enterprise Linux Today: CarsDirect.com – A Business Case for
Linux(Jun 22, 2000)
ComputerWorld:
Home Depot Testing Linux For Mushrooming PC Volume(Jun 22,
1999)
ComputerWorld:
Linux Takes Flight on Northwest Simulators(May 24, 1999)
PC
Week: [Canadian National] Railroad boards the Linux train(May
10, 1999)
ComputerWorld:
Linux gushes savings for oil giant [Amerada Hess](May 04,
1999)
ComputerWorld:
Cendant Will Book Linux into 4,000 Hotels(Mar 10, 1999)
ComputerWorld:
Retailer [Burlington Coat Factory] commits to Linux in 250
stores(Feb 16, 1999)
Internet
Week: Progress Report: How Six Web Projects Fared [Burlington Coat
Factory](Dec 19, 1998)
Related Stories — “Linux in the Enterprise” Features:
Enterprise Linux Today: The Open Days Are Just Beginning(Aug
30, 2000)
Linux.com:
Enterprise and Linux(Aug 22, 2000)
LinuxWorld: Java brings Linux to the enterprise(Aug 16,
2000)
Enterprise Linux Today: Beyond Religion: How to Evangelize Linux to
the Secular Enterprise(Jun 21, 2000)
NetworkWorld: The trek ahead [to the enterprise](Jun 20,
2000)
Network Computing: The Linux Challenge(Jun 19, 2000)
Enterprise Linux Magazine: Open Source Gets Hyper(Jun 04,
2000)
Linux Journal: Linux in the Enterprise(Apr 09, 2000)
Enterprise
Systems Journal: Business Intelligence: The Open Systems Cult:
Linux and Data Warehousing(Mar 15, 2000)
InfoWorld:
Enterprise apps give Linux a shot in the arm(Mar 06, 2000)
IT-Director:
Linux at the Top-end – chasing the Enterprise space(Feb 28,
2000)
O’Reilly Network: Linux in the Enterprise — Getting in the
Door(Feb 10, 2000)
TechWeb:
Linux Creeps Upstream In The Enterprise(Feb 04, 2000)
ZDNET
UK: Linux set for enterprise role(Jan 28, 2000)
PlanetIT:
The “Lintel” Value Proposition(Nov 18, 1999)
TechWeb:
Linux Scales Enterprise Wall(Jan 15, 2000)
LinuxPlanet:
Application Servers and Linux: The Enterprise Awaits(Oct 31,
1999)
Linux.com:
Enterprise Linux(Oct 25, 1999)
The
Register: Linux beats NT, but Unix is top for enterprise claims
report(Oct 19, 1999)
TechRepublic:
Across the Republics: Is Linux ready for the enterprise? Users tell
all(Sep 17, 1999)
ComputerWorld:
Linux In a 3-Piece Suit?(Sep 07, 1999)