DesKtop management Intel's Developer Forum kicks off this week
and, with a host of Microsoft alternatives coming of age, there is
a strong focus on the future of the desktop
Intel's Developer Forum kicks off today (7 September) with the chip
giant ready to announce a number of future technologies that will
allow organisations to gainefficiencies from their hardware and IT
infrastructures.
Users will have to wait two years or more, however, for many of the
desktop technologies unveiled in the show to reach the mainstream.
In the meantime new trends are emerging in managing desktops that
can improve efficiency and drive down costs.
There are now real alternatives to Microsoft Windows. New, flexible
software licensing models are also available; while on-demand
desktop services are on the increase, as are options for firms that
want to hand over their desktop management to a third party.
According to analyst Meta Group, a single PC costs between £1,100
and £2,800 a year to manage with IT helpdesk support, fixes and
maintenance. So, over the life of the PC, the running costs far
outweigh the capital costs.
Some organisations are considering Linux on the desktop as a viable
option to Windows, to reduce these costs.
Simon Yates, senior analyst at Forrester Research, said, "For those
firms that do plan to deploy Linux to some extent, the primary
motivators are lower total cost of PC ownership, easier and cheaper
operating system licensing, and lower cost of hardware and
applications."
IBM, Sun, Novell and Red Hat are targeting Windows desktop users,
with Linux or Unix variants and applications designed for the
desktop. As an indication of possible future trends, in July Allied
Irish Bank chose to switch its 7,500 desktop PCs from Windows to a
Linux-based Java system.
Novell, renowned for the past 20 years for its Netware network
management software, is planning to launch enterprise Linux-based
desktops towards the end of the year.
It will combine the best features of Ximian Desktop and SuSE Linux
Desktop, which shipped separately last year, into a single Novell
desktop.
Novell has a major distribution channel and significant experience
in Windows desktop support. It will bring this experience to Linux.
"That's the sort of confidence that customers are looking for,"
said John Holden, research analyst for Butler Group. "Novell could
pull in a lot of business."
The supplier also plans to add parts of the Mono Project, the
open-source version of Microsoft's .net framework, to the desktop,
creating new applications built on Mono.
Gary Barnett, IT research director at analyst firm Ovum, said,
"With Mono, Visual Basic developers will be able to develop
applications on Linux, and this will drive Linux adoption."
Another possible alternative to Windows on the desktop will be
Sun's Java Desktop System (JDS) running on Solaris 10, also due out
by the end of the year.
Sun plans to make Solaris 10 "100% compatible" with Red Hat
Enterprise Linux 3, and Linux applications, through its Project
Janus. Sun is initially targeting academic institutions, government
agencies and transaction workers with JDS.
Barnett said, "Novell, and Sun with its Java desktop, have realised
the real issue is usability and manageability. But Microsoft
figured this out, too. With Windows 2000 came far greater
manageability and it was easier to do things like managing
profiles."
He added that the actual cost of PC hardware and software for the
life of the PC was low compared to issues such as downtime, desktop
management, maintenance and training.
"This is important because cost is one of the factors people look
at when they consider Linux. But the fact that Linux is free or
cheap won't necessarily have a huge impact on total cost of
ownership," he said.
Holden, said, "We don't think Linux will take over the world, but
it will see more gains in the public sector." The City of Munich,
for example, is changing 14,000 desktops from Windows to
Linux.
He added, "Linux on the desktop will get a share, but not a major
share, because Microsoft has such a hold on the desktop, and it's a
major task to change."
Randstad uses on-demand PC service
IBM has taken on-demand services to their logical conclusion
with its agreement in April to manage all the desktops for Randstad
Employment Bureau. Randstad is the first UK firm to use IBM's PC
on-demand desktop management service and is expecting to save about
£650,000 a year by using the service to standardise its IT
infrastructure, said Patrick Green, director of business services
at the company. "We had quite an antiquated IT infrastructure with
a mish-mash of different systems as a result of an acquisition in
2001," he said. "Offering effective IT support has been difficult
as it would take a long time to work out what the problem actually
was. The deal will give us flexibility for our disparate
users."
Third-party management reduces desktop setup
costs>>
Software licence changes means greater management
efficiencies>>