Linux, security and holiday cover: readers' solutions to recent
Strategy Clinic problems
How can I evaluate Linux without wasting
money?
The Linux/open source debate leaves me cold, but I am getting
pressure from above, where the directors are thinking of potential
cost savings, and below, where a number of staff are pressing for
us to evaluate it. How can I keep both sides happy without wasting
a lot of time and money?
Treat Linux as any other product
selection
This is an area where market pressure is driving users to consider
alternatives and for some organisations the benefits of an open
source product are being realised. There is still reluctance from
some IT managers to progress down this route as Linux/open source
can still have a geeky reputation. However, a number of big players
have taken the step and a proper review may be timely.
To ensure you keep both sides happy, you should treat this as you
would any third-party product selection:
- Clearly define the scope of the evaluation and identify the
benefits to be achieved
- Identify the features that need to be provided by the solution,
ranking the most important ones
- Evaluate the market offerings against these, scoring each
supplier against each aspect
- Select the top two or three products and bring those in for a
brief pilot
- The pilot should be run by a relatively small team, which
shares a set of tightly-controlled objectives. The evaluation
should be run as a project and not as a technical
playground.
There are a number of key factors to look at in deciding whether
Linux is appropriate for your organisation, and would be considered
for any open source product. These should include supplier support,
criticality of the services you would be running, upgrades,
security, etc.
Essentially, you should treat the selection of Linux/open source as
you would any operating system conversion and hopefully keep both
parties happy.
Tom Clark, IT manager, international financial services
company
The switch from Unix to Linux can cut costs
Linux is now an opportunity you cannot afford to ignore. Shifting
from proprietary Unix to Linux can offer immediate cost savings and
with recent developments in open source and Linux, now is the time
to act.
There is now a tactical choice for companies running large Unix
installations. Linux offers a way of shifting the sourcing of IT to
an open standards strategy with little pain and significant
gain.
Linux is a robust system with a strong market. This makes it worth
consideration, even if a conservative approach is taken. As
existing hardware requires refreshing, there is an opportunity to
port the applications it runs to Linux and to run them either on
lower-cost hardware or to "multi-host" them on an existing platform
with spare capacity. Migration can be painless.
After the last two years of cost-cutting, more savings from
consolidation or from reduced staffing will be hard to find. Linux
can offer an immediate opportunity for cost savings.
A careful examination of the total cost of ownership in the light
of migration costs, patch and maintenance requirements, licence
management, support needs and security risks will offer
organisations clear insight in the factors that matter most. There
may be strategic reasons for not choosing open source, but shifting
from Unix to Linux can be tactically attractive and will quickly
clarify strategic benefits.
David Sumray, IT strategist, PA Consulting
Group
Create a philosophy and take it one step at a
time
IT managers get involved with open source either because of their
previous Unix background or because they try out a single product,
are impressed by it, and see the benefits the open source approach
offers. For example, in view of the publicised security issues
concerning Internet Explorer, they might try a non-Microsoft
browser such as Mozilla that runs on Microsoft Windows.
Having gained confidence with the quality of open source, the next
steps could include using Apache - which has 67% of the web server
market - and deploying Samba for file and print services for
Microsoft Windows PCs.
Adopting open source tools for software development meets the
objective of ensuring applications are free from proprietary
lock-in. Try migrating to Open Office, running on Microsoft
Windows. These all result in cost savings.
When it comes to the latest hardware, Linux runs well on the 64-bit
Intel/AMD processors and enables server consolidation. Applications
that run on several 32-bit servers can be hosted on a single 64-bit
Linux server. This again gives significant savings.
Finally the desktop. An open source desktop is not simply about
replacing Microsoft Windows with Linux. It is about running
applications that are free from the underlying desktop operating
system, so ensuring freedom of choice. The Open CD project is well
worth examining. This is a collection of high-quality open source
software that runs on Windows and Linux. Where existing desktop
applications cannot be replaced, running them as "thin clients" on
a server with the display output to the desktop enables legacy
applications to be run independently of the operating system.
Open source should not be considered as a series of products which,
because they are free, provide low-cost alternatives to proprietary
software. Open source provides a philosophy that can result in
highly reliable, stable, low-cost systems that are designed to work
with open source and proprietary software.
Eddie Bleasdale, Netproject
How can I get security to the top of the
agenda?
Following an 18-month freeze, the board is considering increasing
the IT budget. It wants a list of priorities with cost and return
details. The priority should be security and infrastructure but ROI
is difficult to demonstrate and projects are expensive. How can I
ensure we tackle these first?
Convince the board that IT is not a cost
centre
Avoid the doom-and-gloom pressure tactics, as this will heighten
the awareness of inadequacies in your infrastructure and can lead
to a loss of confidence.
Your focus should be on strengthening the existing structure to
provide a solid backbone that is growing in line with the business.
Do all you can to find the intangible benefits - reduced downtime,
increased productivity, faster archiving and retrieval of
information, lower legal fees - that can be given a fiscal value
without sounding as if you are grasping.
You must ensure your board sees the IT infrastructure as an enabler
to business growth, rather than a drain on finances. Highlight
where your plans will offer the potential to open new markets, or
new channels to existing markets.
IT is often seen as a cost centre rather than a revenue stream.
Hopefully, your board will realise that, for your IT infrastructure
to perform invisibly, seamlessly and above all securely, investment
in technology is truly an investment in the business as a
whole.
Scott Thompson, IT director, Brown &
Newirth
How can I solve annual holiday
headache?
My IT team of 15 is unable to meet its workload without using
contractors. Most staff take a holiday during the school break. We
cannot afford to lose staff by refusing reasonable leave requests,
but management does not see the need for extra resources. How can I
avoid this in future?
Try the Austrian way - employ students
Here in Austria we have solved this problem. Almost every firm
takes on students for a duration of four to eight weeks to fulfil a
variety of roles during the summer holidays.
In IT departments it is usual to take on students in the ratio of
about one student to 10 permanent staff. The students usually carry
out discrete tasks (eg write non-core programs or physical hardware
audits), reducing the backlog.
They also provide cover for holidays on front-line tasks (such as
helpdesk support or running routine daily operations). Most
students in IT departments are studying IT courses at school or
university. The students gain practical experience, something to
add to their CV, have a reference for future employers and get paid
at student-level wages (much below normal full-time staff payment
levels).
The IT department gains a pair of hands when urgently needed (to
cover for staff holidays) and they also get a chance to "try before
they buy" in that more than 20% of students will end up taking a
permanent job with one of the firms they have worked for during the
summer holidays - truly a win-win situation.
As an ex-pat from the UK, I found the level of student involvement
in IT departments very surprising when I first came to Austria -
now I find it amazing that the UK does not do it.
Dave White, business consultant