The French Ministry of Equipment is to migrate 1,500
aging Windows NT servers to a specially developed version of
MandrakeSoft's Linux Corporate Server, amid growing evidence that
large European organisations are treating open-source software as a
serious alternative to proprietary offerings.
MandrakeSoft said that two Linux distributions based on
Corporate Server, developed to suit the ministry's requirements,
had been selected for the migration. The ministry is also buying
services such as technical monitoring, training and technical
support from MandrakeSoft.
The ministry's IT systems include 60,000 workstations and 2,000
Windows NT servers nearing the end of their useful lives, spread
across 160 locations, including 102 local French administrations,
according to MandrakeSoft. The organisation employs about 100,000
agents throughout France.
The ministry, like other public sector bodies, said it is
migrating to an open-source platform partly to avoid being locked
into the technology of a particular supplier, as well as to reduce
IT costs.
Linux, like other open-source software, uses a licence that
prevents a single company from controlling the technology;
customers can theoretically migrate from one distribution to
another with a minimum of hassle.
By contrast, the European Commission recently ruled that
Microsoft had abused its monopoly on desktop software to lock
customers into its server software. Linux is already widely used in
servers but has only recently begun to clinch big workstation
contracts - notably in the German city of Munich.
"This project is our first achievement among several similar new
[projects] and is a sign of MandrakeSoft's dynamic growth," said
MandrakeSoft chief executive Francois Bancilhon. The company
recently exited bankruptcy protection.
Large organisations, particularly in the public sector, are
increasingly building open-source software into their IT buying
cycles, according to a study last week from research firm IDC.
The study found that organisations are using more external
open-source services, particularly consulting and server migration,
from the likes of Siemens Business Services, Capgemini, IGS and HP
Services, rather than relying on the decisions of internal IT
staff. "In short, transitioning of external [open source] services
from a niche status to mainstream means that acceptance of free
software and open source is growing," said analyst Dominique
Raviart. "In other words, free software is becoming an alternative
route to lowering operational IT costs."
Other promising signs for Linux include agreements by Allied
Irish Banks and the government of New South Wales, Australia to
switch thousands of Windows desktops to Sun Microsystems
Linux-based Java Desktop System (JDS), the decision of Bergen,
Norway's second-largest city, to consolidate older Windows and Unix
servers on Novell's SuSe Linux Enterprise Server 8, and the Munich
deal, Raviart said.
In France, government ministers have said the government is
serious about adopting Linux.
Civil service minister Renaud Dutreil told Reuters France he
wants to use open-source when upgrading at least some of the
government's computers that number nearly one million.
"The competition is open," he said, estimating the government's
software bill could be cut at least in half. Microsoft "must return
to being one supplier to the state among others," he said.
Earlier this month Microsoft reportedly offered price cuts of
60% for Paris City Hall, which is studying the possibility of
switching 15,000 workstations to Linux.
Some organisations are likely to be using the threat of Linux
installations to pressure Microsoft's prices down, analyst Raviart
said, but other commitments being made signal that open source is
for real.
Earlier this month three French government-funded research
organisations unveiled a new, GPL-compatible open-source licence
called CeCILL, designed to make the software more compatible with
French law and spread its adoption.
The UK seems to have largely stayed quiet on the open-source
front, Raviart said: public and private sector organisations here
are more likely to publicly announce IT deals, so their silence on
open source is particularly noticeable. Partly, this is probably
due to a "more liberal" attitude toward Microsoft in the UK's
public sector, Raviart speculated. By contrast, "a number of German
or French public units may see a lower dependence on Microsoft
products as a positive sign," he said.
He said UK firms are also using other means to cut costs,
including outsourcing, offshoring and application management,
meaning they don't place as much emphasis on open source's
cost-cutting benefits. In countries such as Germany and France
outsourcing offshoring is more controversial and firms are more
reluctant to associate themselves with it, Raviart said.
Matthew Broersma writes for Techworld.com
Mandrake wins French government server deal