Allied Irish Bank is to switch its 7,500 desktop PCs from
Windows to a Linux-based Java system.
The move is a landmark for open source software, according to
Daniel Mayo, lead analyst for financial services at
Datamonitor.
Although Linux has gained ground within financial firms in recent
years, it has generally been used for back-office rather than
customer-facing systems.
Allied Irish Bank will use Sun Microsystems' Java-based JDS Release
2, which was introduced last month to compete with Microsoft's
Windows and Office. It is based on Novell's SuSE Linux and includes
desktop management tools, Sun's Staroffice and the Mozilla web
browser.
The bank will use thin-client technology where data sits on the
server rather than the desktop. Bank staff will use slimmed-down
PCs without external e-mail or internet access for carrying out
basic customer queries.
Mayo predicted that other banks could follow the example of Allied
Irish, attracted by the savings on licence costs and the ease of
using Linux-based systems.
"A lot of banks are looking at refreshing their technology, which
can be quite expensive," he said. "Linux is a good option."
Matt Fletcher, head of global IT strategy and planning at Allied
Irish Bank, said the low cost of Linux was a factor in the move. He
said the bank had used Java for several years and was confident JDS
Release 2 was reliable in a "controlled environment".