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Linux is no more plodding the lonely road. For years, tabulating its hazy
footprint across the Indian enter prise-where often, no all-encompassing trend
of adoption was visible-was like trying to find the proverbial needle in an
often imaginary haystack. Nevertheless, Linux votaries and business evangelists
have slogged to see that the Force remains with an operating system which is yet
to shake off comparisons with Windows and the immeasurable burden of a few
thousand versions.
The Linux revolution is still imperceptible to the majority of end-users. Yet
it is beginning to be strongly felt, and is now being acknowledged, even in the
domestic market. Governments from West Bengal to Munich to Dalian and corporates
from Hindustan Lever to Credit Suisse First Boston, are implementing Linux
seriously, not to mention the growingly open-source-savvy Indian states of
Maharashtra, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Pondicherry and Uttaranchal.
 Linux
is certainly happening. In fact, it has moved to the next level, thanks to the
blessing of the likes of IBM, Sun and HP amongst other vendors. Before we jump
to where Linux is in the Indian enterprises, let's talk numbers. Globally the
situation is not very different. And every major research agency speaks the same
language.
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Zone-h.org's Web server intrusions study showed that except for the period between August 2003 and November 2003, the Linux family was far more attacked than the Windows family of operating systems though all the notoriety is pinned to the latter, by default, it may appear |
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While IDC pegs the Linux growth rate at 38% for Q2 2004 y-o-y, Gartner puts
the growth rate at 57.1% for Linux-based servers against a 27% growth for the
overall market for Q104. Even Linux in India has shown a heady growth rate of
80% in the x86 space and about 82% in overall market for Q2. Globally, Oracle
holds the largest market share for Linux-at 69%-and the highest annual
growth rate of 360%, outpacing all other commercial databases, according to
Gartner-Dataquest's May 2004 report. And with more than 9,000 developers
creating Oracle products on Linux, Oracle could soon become the largest
Linux-based development organization worldwide.
Intel economics, in combination with Linux platforms, has been a strong
selling point for IBM and HP Linux servers in India. Today Linux is available on
all hardware platforms ranging from mainframes to Intel servers, but the most
popular enterprise offerings are often confined to companies like IBM, Oracle,
and SAP, claim industry sources. This arises from their capabilities to port
most SMB applications onto Linux, according to Jyoti Satyanathan, general
manager, Linux (ASEAN and South Asia), for IBM. "These enterprises have
succeeded in using the multiplicity of Linux to their advantage with the
availability of thousands of open source software available to do most of the
peripheral applications like printfile, firewall and Web serving,"
Satyanathan says.
According to him, the heaviest investors in Linux are banks for their
branches, telcos for value-added services, industries for data analysis, design
and development, and the SMB segment for lowering investment costs.
As CIOs continue to move beyond the "Linux on mail server" syndrome
increased application support from the big hardware vendors is swinging the
pendulum northward. "The larger hardware vendors have experience in Linux
implementation across the world on a wide variety of platforms and this is seen
by Indian enterprises as translating into a lower risk factor. Besides,
customers often prefer single-point hardware and apps support to reduce roll-on
costs of a Linux implementation," says Pravir Ganguly, founder consultant
of tech research firm Access Media International. According to Thomas Kurian,
senior vice-president, Oracle Server Technologies. "Linux is far ahead from
the point of view of incorporating security imperatives in the database
layer."
So while pure-play software vendors are helping in geting the Linux boat
going, Linux advocates should thank the big hardware vendors for adding the
necessary power boosters. And the reason is not far to fathom. It is the
stronger sales team of the large vendors which has helped. However, there is a
flip side to all good things.
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Humble Beg-Innings |
In 1990, Finnish computer science student Linus Torvalds turned Minix, a popular classroom teaching tool, into Linux. Linux is closer to the real Unix, which explains its widespread use in servers. Torvalds created the kernel, and most of the supporting applications and utilities came from the GNU project of the Free Software Foundation. Many programmers have contributed to the Linux/GNU system.
As for the pronunciation of the word, if you lived in Finland, you would say “lee-nooks,” because Linus is pronounced “lee-noose”. Since the English pronunciation of Linus is “line-iss,” many call it “line-icks.” More common is “lynn-icks,” which splits the difference, without emphasizing the “X”. No matter how you say it, Linux continues to grow rapidly. |
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Says Abhijit Das, manager (platform strategies) with Microsoft, as he
launches into the archetypal anti-Linux pitch, "Linux consolidation is
imperative, while cost of acquisition, maintenance and support continues to be
high. As for upgrades on Linux, you will end up looking beyond it, anyway."
Microsoft persists in insisting that the notion of Linux dominates over any
action here.
Mail Server Glues
It's not that the critics are carping, or totally wrong on Linux adoption
patterns. Linux and its hordes of doppelgangers are yet to graduate beyond the
mail server in over 70% of installations worldwide, estimate industry sources.
While the number of servers using Linux has increased worldwide, companies like
Bennett & Coleman have not pushed Linux beyond sundry mail server
functionalities. "Over the past 2-3 years from the time when we first
installed Linux on our mail server, things have worked out fine," says
Venkat Bhat, senior systems engineer with the Bennett & Coleman Group. The
company's flagship publication, The Times of India, has even hosted its
Intranet on the Linux server over the past two years. But in a move typical of
the Indian enterprise, the daily jive of managing key organizational data and
processing continues to be performed on a "reliable" and engagingly
familiar Windows Unix dance floor.
A Lot of Server
Linux vendors down the years have been very innovative in mirroring and
building on Windows' successes and attempting to eradicate its failures.
Worldwide, as a function of the open source mindset to innovate beyond
boundaries, the process is, too often, visibly Windows-conscious. For example, a
Linux appliance from Net Integration Technologies (www.nitix.com) packs an
amazing amount of services into a small box. Running the Nitix OS, it includes
built-in Web, e-mail, VPN and remote access servers, a firewall and file and
print services for Windows, Mac and Linux networks. Its three Ethernet ports are
used to connect two ISPs to the LAN and provide automatic fail-over if one of
the connections goes down. This is a case where Nitix has sought to match
Windows proficiencies in server scanning and strong server side APIs.
Another example is an enterprise instant messaging gateway from FaceTime
Communications announced three months ago which combines Windows-based policy
control and proxy servers with a Linux-based appliance for instant messaging and
peer-to-peer monitoring and blocking.
| The
Migration Path |
| CIOs
should follow this simple four-step process to ensure high quality
deployment when migrating to Linux |
Assessment
The first step is to identify areas within your infrastructure that
can benefit from Linux-based solutions. The assessment process
begins with a thorough review of your existing IT infrastructure,
current and future growth estimates, and strategic initiatives. From
there, identify areas that offer potential for migration, and
develop a migration assessment plan that can be used as a foundation
for the process. |
Planning
and Design
The success of a migration to Linux is heavily dependent on thorough
planning and design. The planning and design phase of a Linux
migration and integration project evaluates the data gathered in the
assessment phase and creates an actionable, comprehensive
implementation plan that forms the roadmap for the deployment. |
Development
and Validation
The development and validation phase of a Linux migration and
integration includes any required development, including core build
development, system deployment architecture, porting, performance
tuning and code optimization, as well as testing and validation of
the future environment. This phase requires a coordinated effort to
ensure that the deployment does not disrupt ongoing business
operations. The result of the development and validation phase is a
fully tested and functional solution that is ready for deployment. |
Deployment
and Operations
Open source technology deployments should be supported by proven
business processes and skilled administrators, in order to
effectively manage the solution once it is moved into production.
The constant challenge is to innovate and improve operational
processes is often impeded by a lack of skilled technical resources
in this area. |
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The thrust into the Indian enterprise is being fuelled by the encouraging
response, claim Linux vendors, who are focusing their efforts on increasing user
awareness, market development and partnering activities. Novell has announced
the release of its 9.2 version of SUSE Linux Professional priced at about Rs
4,000 in India.
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 “Oracle is putting in an identity management solution into its database management suite running atop Linux. The Linux community has graduated into a movement encompassing every section of the ICT spectrum”
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Thomas Kurian,
Senior VP, Oracle Server Technologies |
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Talk of opening more Windows into the developer consciousness. Novell's
SUSE Linux Professional 9.2 includes new features like improved WLAN support and
configuration with Wi-Fi technologies like Centrino, line-of-sight IrDA and
Bluetooth support, as well as leading open source graphical desktop environments
like KDE and GNOME. "Disruption through Innovation" has been a popular
Linux credo, as much as it is with the services companies. But pricing, support
and upgrade costs continue to be an issue. While Linux has been easily adopted
on the server side, desktop continues to be Microsoft monopoly. On the
enterprise side, where piracy is a non issue, adoption has been slow and sparse.
While Sun Microsystem claims to have major wins with the JDS system in
organizations like National Insurance Company, we are yet to see huge
deployments of this nature.
Kramer vs Kramer
The open source market grew significantly during the past two years, but
concerns about service capabilities-mainly maintenance and support-still
blight adoption. The market will grow only if specific open source products,
such as Linux, JBoss, Eclipse, or Tomcat, become parallel technology standards,
say experts. This is already happening to a great extent.
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 Microsoft India manager (platform strategies) Abhijit Das says that the plethora of Linux versions made open source developer innovation a reality at the expense of achieving a common technology standard
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A much-overlooked phenomenon is that while Linux has become the catchphrase
when one talks of open source, applications like the Apache Web server, the
Sendmail mail server, JBoss application server and JSP (Java Server Page)
conversion tools like Tomcat have often been more successful. Apache proponents
claim that it holds an 85% market share of the Internet server market, where
Linux is still struggling to gain traction against Microsoft. The scope of open
source technologies in consulting services could extend to even embedded Linux,
distributed architecture design and managed migration to open source operating
systems with some help from the large hardware vendors.
However on the Linux front itself, the current milestone for Linux is its
growing emergence as a key database management platform. "When Linux is
shipped as part of a suite with appropriate support built into the license, as
Oracle is doing, it is hugely reliable," says Gopi Kumar Bulusu, CEO of
Sankhya Technologies. "We run Oracle on RedHat, and even deliver our DMS
solution on Linux."
Right now, a strengthening software innovation network riding on the deep
pockets of hardware vendors, ISVs and independent software developers alone
cannot proliferate Linux across the Indian enterprise, observers note, in the
absence of guarantees for reliability, RoI and TCO. Or solve the problem of how
much to use and when to use.
Proviso: Linux's keys to the datacenter kingdom presently dangle from the
concentric rings of consistent performance/support/maintenance track records,
customer insight and realization of top-of-the-mind trust, stronger
technobranding, massclusivity (a combination of customizability and exclusivity)
and niche solutions beyond Windows. Time, converging market interests and strong
vendor leaderships will tell the rest of the tale.
Ravi Menon in Bangalore
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