Feb 22
The Illinois based banking conglomerate, Metropolitan Bank Group, has successfully moved from Microsoft to Suse Linux. Its complete infrastructure is almost entirely based on Linux now. Because they grew via acquisitions they found that they were spending vast amounts of time in the field bringing remote locations into the infrastructure. To alleviate this problem Tom Johnson, IT Director, began a complete migration from Windows to Linux. Mr. Johnson saw an immediate increase the stability, efficiency, and a decrease expenditures with the migration. His advice
“Take a migration to Linux slowly. Work on proofs of concept. That way, if something blows up, it’s not huge. It’s called a migration for a reason”
Sounds like successful project overall, for more detailed information the full story is at http://www.linux.com
Feb 19
IPZS, a joint-stock company with Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, is increasing its reliability and productivity by implementing an Enterprise SOA platform based on JBOSS along with Redhat support. IPZS is responsible for printing and dissemination of the Italian Official Gazette, government publications, security and anti-counterfeiting systems, fine art publishing and ID documents, including traditional and electronic ID cards, passports and smart cards.
A quote from Maurizio Quattrociocchi, IT & Telecoms Director at IPZS.
“Migrating our systems to JBoss solutions was a strategic choice for us. It not only offers economic benefits, but also provides constant innovation and enhancements from the community that are key aspects for a company like ours that provides high-value services”
Feb 13
Linux is making inroads into the future of US military with programs such as the Future Combat System (FSC) and organizations such as DISA and DIA.
The adoption of open source software is increasing however there is not an overriding direction of how it should be accomplished. It is best summed up by Bernard Golden, chief executive officer of Navica, a system integrator.
“The adoption of open source technology is widespread but uneven in the Defense Department.There has clearly been an expanded awareness and penetration of open source. Some groups don’t do it at all, some use it and don’t even know it, and some actually advocate its use“
Some of the reasons that Linux and open source are being adopted within programs inlcude:
- Reduced cost
- Reduced time in which innovations in software can be incorporated into systems
- Security
I have also seen this first hand, where there is not a clear direction on the policy for use of open source software, but more programs and more organizations are adopting it. Open source is now becoming a relied upon and accepted option.
