“Some organizations rely heavily on Linux. Sean McAdam of
Frederick Communications in Frederick, Md., runs a local ISP and
consulting service. Like many ISPs, McAdam uses Linux extensively.
How extensively? ‘Firewall, DNS, Email, Web mail, Web hosting,
network administration, network monitoring, diagnostics, [and]
desktop,’ says McAdam.“In other companies, the use of Linux is focused on server
functions. For example, Arkeia is a company that sells its backup
products on a number of platforms, including Linux. But, like any
other company, it has built its own internal infrastructure to
support its business. What role does Linux play internally?
‘Everything which is not pure desktop is under Linux or under
UNIX,’ says Philippe Roussel, CEO of Arkeia. ‘We have a couple of
Sun machines, some HP-UX. We have a couple of Windows servers.
Everything else is Linux-based.’ And some of those boxes are
definitely critical to the business. ‘We have decided to remove our
Windows server, which was used for [Microsoft] Exchange, and to
transfer that to a Linux box with SuSE [Openexchange Server],’ he
explains…”