A change from a proprietary ICL mainframe and Sequent
Unix system to Solaris and Linux has played a crucial role in
turning around the fortunes of Kent-based insurance firm Reliance
Mutual.
Due to a slowdown in the insurance market, Reliance Mutual went
through a major cost-cutting exercise, shutting down 20 branch
offices and its direct sales force, with the loss of 320 staff.
Now, thanks to the restructuring and a change in its IT strategy,
the insurer is taking on new business from independent financial
advisors.
Reliance Mutual has replaced its ICL and Sequent systems with Sun
equipment and Linux-based PC servers. Adrian James, IT director at
Reliance Mutual, said the move away from mainframes was an
important factor in helping to keep the business afloat as
maintenance on the mainframes was costing £1m a year. For example,
"The cost of purchasing memory on ICL is much higher than
lower-spec Sun machines," he said.
Reliance Mutual used MicroFocus Cobol to move the core mainframe
insurance application onto Sun E3000 and E250 servers that connect
to an Ingres database. James said further savings were made by
using shareware and Linux for subsidiary IT systems. Red Hat Linux
is used to run the company's file server and internet name
servers.
The company is also developing an intranet based on Apache and has
previously rolled-out Linux to 200 desktops.
Linux for Business
Computer Weekly is sponsoring the Linux for Business conference
running on 10 June at the Commonwealth Institute in London.
Speakers include Martin Armitage, head of global IT strategy at
Unilever, who will be talking about his company's Linux
strategy.
www.netproject.co.uk/conference/lfb