Linux is in and an aging version of Microsoft’s enterprise Windows operating system is out after the French Ministry of Equipment decided to replace 1,500 Windows NT servers
with Mandrakelinux Corporate servers.
Mandrakesoft officials say the French government is committed to “promote technologies based on open standards, to
open public markets to more competition and also to reduce IT costs.”
The migration is expected to last until the end of 2005.
“We are delighted to see Mandrakesoft’s work in terms of server products and
services crystallize in such a large project,” said Francois Bancilhon,
Mandrakesoft CEO, in a statement. “This is the proof that Mandrakesoft
solutions now fit perfectly with enterprise scale requirements.”
Gael Duval, Mandrakelinux founder and Mandrakesoft co-founder, said the
migration will save the French government from a hefty price of Microsoft
Windows licenses. However, how much it is actually saving is questionable, since Microsoft is no longer fully supporting NT, which is eight years old.
The French move to Linux, which
began last November, affects three-fourths of the ministry’s total number of office and infrastructure
Windows NT servers in 160 locations.
Mandrakesoft brokered a services and support
contract with the French Ministry, which gives the recovering company a
guaranteed revenue in the form of membership to the Mandrakesoft Corporate
Club and dedicated customer support.
Earlier this month, Mandrakesoft boosted its support capabilities with the
roughly $500,000 stock purchase
of French support and services firm Edge-IT, which gave the primarily
consumer-focused Linux distributor some much-needed corporate know-how.
The acquisition was part of the company’s efforts to retool its operations
after filing
for and emerging
from the French version of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. With its versions of
Mandrakelinux OS available as a free download, the company couldn’t
bring enough users into its fold.
Reorganized and ready for enterprise-level business, Mandrakesoft has picked
a good time to make its enterprise push. According to a report published
Thursday by research firm IDC, Western European organizations will spend $98
million on services and support surrounding Linux, open source and free
software projects. That number is expected to rise to $228 million in the
next four years.
“In the past, internal IT staff have been responsible for selecting and
implementing open source and free software solutions,” Dominique Raviart,
IDC European Services group senior research analyst, said in the report.
Raviart expects enterprise adoption of open source and free software
projects to remain relatively small in the medium-term future, with most of
the growth in systems integration.
The main reason for the pickup, the IDC report maintains, is companies are
looking at Linux and free software as a cost-cutting measure, especially the
public sector in Germany and France.
“At this stage, a number of them will
begin migration projects,” said Lionel Lamy, European Infrastructure
Management Services program manager, in a statement.
Mandrakesoft’s already beaten them to the punch.
