IBM pushes open Linux for Middle East
Posted: 3 July 2003
Regional Linux events confirm the importance of Linux to
government and enterprise in the region to ensure greater choice,
lower costs and the ability for Middle East organisations to take
control of their technology destinies
In the space of only five short years, the open source Linux operating
system has gone from a technical topic only generally seen in academic,
scientific or supercomputing circles to the world’s fastest
growing operating system for government, enterprises and small and
medium businesses.
Its importance to the Middle East region was confirmed at the IBM-hosted
seminar series that finished in Dubai today, after visiting Oman,
Bahrain and Kuwait, where large, enthusiastic audiences discussed
issues around adopting open source software, and customising for
local application in Arabic.
The event highlights were keynote addresses by Rob K Lamb, IBM’s
Worldwide Director of Linux sales (who flew to the Middle East especially
for this event), and Dr Khaled Ghoniem, Chairman of the Saudi Computer
Society.
“Why Linux? Freedom of choice, vendor independence, maximise
ROI,” was the core of Rob Lamb’s presentation.
“We believe that no one vendor can possibly have all the
answers, and the only reasonable way to ensure that our customers
can avoid vendor lock-in, and maintain the flexibility needed to
rapidly incorporate products and technologies based on value and
not on proprietary constraints, is through open standards.”
As technical skill levels in the Middle East steadily rise, there
is a growing case for the region to become a technology developer
and innovator, rather than a consumer of technologies developed
elsewhere.
Because Linux is open-source, it allows developers and engineers
in this region to customise it for their requirements, and develop
new technologies that can, in turn be shared with the rest of the
world through the open source community.
“We’ve seen our customers do some incredible things
with Linux already,” said Bashar Kilani, Software Group Manager
for IBM Middle East, Egypt and Pakistan.
“One of the most powerful supercomputers in the world is
running on Linux in Saudi Arabia, and several of our banking customers
have migrated key systems to the platform. In a new, global economy
where the Middle East can take its place as an equal player, open
source reduces dependence on a particular software provider, and
opens the doors of a local software development industry.”
The business reasons to examine Linux are clear.
Apart from the freedom to choose a hardware platform that fits
an organisation’s needs best, Linux has massive cost advantages.
According to a study by the Robert Francis Group in 2002, in the
first year of ownership, Linux cost $50 000, Sun’s Solaris
$422 000, Windows $92 000.
After three years these figures increase to $74 000, $562 000 and
$191 000 respectively.
The clear total cost of ownership advantages of Linux are matched
by its now firmly established reputation for security and reliability.
IBM made a firm commitment to Linux two years ago, and today over
200 IBM software products run on this operating system, including
Tivoli, DB2, Lotus, WebShpere, and Rational, as well as host of
development tools.
IBM offers Linux on all of its enterprise platforms, including
its mainframe servers.
This support for Linux is not only at the high end: for the smaller
business, IBM’s “Express” offerings of its data
management, collaboration, systems management and Web services software
are all available on Linux.
In the application development space, IBM has contributed over
$40 million worth of product code to the open source community as
the foundation for Eclipse, an open source integrated (software)
development environment.
IBM also contributed to the evolution of the J2EE specification
and provided the base for XQuery, the Worldwide Web Consortium's
(W3C) specification for a query language for XML.
This year alone, IBM won the “Best Development Tool”
and “Best Data Storage Solution” awards at LinuxWorld
for WebSphere Studio and Tivoli.
References of famous companies using Linux already abound, including
Sony UK, weather.com, Korean Air, Safeway and British Telecom.
In the Middle East, the most famous case study is the Egyptian
museum’s multimedia handheld “Digital Guides”
for visitors, which is based on IBM’s Digital Media technology
running on Linux.
“It is exactly one year since we had our extremely successful
Linux symposium in Bahrain, the first major Linux event in the Middle
East.
"Then we were talking to organisations that were very interested
in Linux as a potential technology for them.
"This year we’ve moved on so far: we’re now talking
implementation and development issues to enterprises and governments
that already have production Linux systems running.
"Its momentum in the region is unstoppable, and we believe
it this event today marks the turning point in the region’s
use and creation of new technologies,” concluded Kilani.
FAST FACTS:
- There are 4,800+ Linux applications in IBM Global Solutions
Directory with over 2500 having IBM Software content
- 34,000 Windows and Intel developers are now working with IBM
software to build Linux applications
- 23 oer cent of developers in internationally are currently writing
Linux applications
- 48 per cent say they will absolutely or probably write Linux
applications in 2003
- 5,000 IBM employees working on Linux; IBM is leader in investment/commitment
in Linux
- IBM uses Linux internally itself, with 1,400+ Production Servers
worldwide
IBM is the world’s largest information technology company,
with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM
offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that
enable telecommunications service providers and equipment suppliers
to take full advantage of the new era of e-business.
For more information see www.ibm.com.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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