Gartner finds that early adopters of Linux face
lingering uncertainties.
As enthusiasm for Linux becomes tempered by complexity and
management issues, key decision makers in large investment banks
face a variety of challenges concerning Linux.
Gartner surveyed seven large investment banks in Europe, the US,
Canada and Australia to discover their opinions about Linux.
Although this informal survey does not have a statistical
relevance, the discussions reveal underlying attitudes,
expectations, the degree of fulfilment and disappointments.
The main attitude of these knowledgeable IT executives, who
wield considerable influence in deployments, was that much effort
still needs to be applied to the full technology, cost and support
model, and that there are several lingering uncertainties.
Most of the early deployments in web-facing or number-crunching
applications have done the job well. However, in some complex cases
IT departments had to apply internal skills, talent and resources
in conjunction with the distributors’ or open source community
knowledge.
Key issues in 2002 were CPU performance, server cost reduction
and platform consolidation. Many of the deployments were
replacements of old Sun hardware, where the gains in cost reduction
on hardware and maintenance using Linux on x86 servers were
dramatic.
In 2004, there is a sense that we are entering a new phase of
deployments. The kernel has been improved, but most systems still
remain on older versions (Linux kernel version 2.4), which
originally implemented memory management and scheduling poorly. In
addition, system configurations are expanding to include large,
network-based storage with storage area networks.
Also, many early adopters, as typified by these respondents,
have continued to buy Intel-compatible hardware, slotting servers
into clusters and racks, where the management problem has
escalated. As server sprawl has increased, IT organisations face
the challenge of managing the systems efficiently. Consequently,
tools capable of fast dynamic server provisioning and resource
allocation, diagnostics, and problem and application programming
interface compatibility resolution are in demand.
Although some of these tools are coming onto the market, many of
them are emerging from the Unix market where suppliers have
commercially licensed products for their own architectures at Unix
pricing.
Another issue that emerged is that of continued server sprawl
contrary to consolidation trends.
Some users reported having hundreds of Linux servers to manage.
Moreover, as these systems were rolled out to trading and other
critical applications, IT organisations had to use datacentre best
practices, such as disaster recovery, data and synchronised
mirroring, back-ups, high availability, diagnostic tools and
instrumentation. These measures have become as important for these
Linux systems as for Unix platforms.
Finally, the kernel stability and security factor emerged.
Earlier simple systems near the network edge were less troublesome
with regard to the kernel. As applications and databases increase,
the kernel’s ability to scale and maintain application
compatibility from release to release comes into question. Tools to
provide new images of kernel releases while maintaining
configuration and library compatibility are also of concern.
These are signs of the relative maturity of Linux: it is a
fast-evolving environment with many technology components at
different levels of maturity at a point in time.
Gartner has warned that the total cost of ownership is not
likely to remain an endless treasure as system complexity
increases.
In fact, one survey respondent was sceptical that eight-way
configurations and beyond will have redeemable benefits purely as a
consequence of Linux.
Linked with the technology issues is the role of the Linux
distributor. Investment and universal banks are highly coveted as a
market among system suppliers: they have deep technology skills;
have big IT budgets; are test-beds for new technologies; and can
guide other users on adoption.
However, the survey respondents were also clear about what they
expect from their strategic support partners. The Linux distributor
is the operating system expert, patch manager, security guardian
and code integrator, but platform suppliers such as IBM, Sun
Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard were the first line of trusted
partners.
Most of the businesses Gartner spoke to were struggling with the
new model that includes the Linux distributor. When the
distribution was relatively inexpensive and used in pilot phases,
concerns about managing a complex and increasingly mission-critical
environment were less pressing issues. With growing ambitions to
deploy Linux widely, a new element emerged: the relationship with
the predominant operating system distributor Red Hat and dealing
with the subscription service.
Gartner believes the roles of the distributor, the platform
suppliers and other service providers will continue to be marked by
tension and that the operating system business model is not viable
for building a long-term sustaining, high-growth company.
In deploying Linux, many of these firms are aware that a
significant support burden still rests with them. An example is the
integration and testing of an operating system – a burden that was
acknowledged to continue at least through 2006. However, the burden
is inextricably bound to the Linux distributor.
Although many interviewees told Gartner of their frustration in
dealing with Red Hat, most conceded that Red Hat has emerged to
assume a mature role in the enterprise. If these firms were not
institutional behemoths, they would pay pretty much whatever Red
Hat demanded in subscription support services.
Nevertheless, because of the critical impact of the operating
system on everything deployed above it, investment banks seem
willing to pay a premium for dedicated Red Hat engineers onsite.
However, as the software stack gets more complex, a common
understanding has emerged.
Linux distributors are needed primarily to clarify problem
responsibility in the stack, effect change management and deliver
enhancements to evolve the operating system. Most problems are
solved by platform suppliers at the first and second levels, and
many at the third level as well.
Red Hat becomes an insurance policy to ensure that kernel bugs
do not become persistent. Wall Street also recognises that it needs
help in the midst of operating system release churn. It has let the
distributors know that rapid release cycles are not welcome. Thus,
Red Hat has already proclaimed its "development sandbox" to be
Fedora (an open community collaborative version), and its
enterprise versions are moving to a 24-month cycle, much as Unix
has.
The ultimate concern of these financial organisations is not to
be overly reliant on any one party. Indeed, as the equation gets
more complicated when the stack is configured with open-source
products like JBoss, Apache, MySQL and others, IT organisations
will bear a greater cost
burden for the integration, deployment and evolution of IT
services based on open-source technologies. The platform suppliers
are beginning to note the changes and formulate advanced sets of
services to deal with higher layers in the stack.
George Weiss is a vice-president at analyst firm
Gartner
Challenges faced
- Technology and stability
- Linux distributors’ roles
- Service and support
- Real costs of technology.