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<br>Location: <a
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<p>
<h2>More foreign banks switching to Linux
</h2>
<i>New Zealand's TSB Bank is the latest big company to switch to Linux, and the
ranks are swelling. According to IBM, 15 banks in central London alone are
running Linux clusters.</i><p>
Matt Loney ,
April 23, 2002<p>
<P><B>A New Zealand bank has become the latest institution to adopt the
open-source Linux operating system. According to reports, the bank is to move
all its branches to the Linux platform. </B>
<P>New Zealand's TSB Bank will join a growing number of companies that are
moving to Linux. The bank was not immediately available for comment, but if
European examples are anything to go by, then software licensing and hardware
upgrade costs are likely to feature among the reasons.
<P>In Europe, BP and Banca Commerciale Italiana feature among the big companies
that have moved to Linux. According to IBM, as many as 15 banks in central
London are running Linux clusters. Korean Air, which now does all its ticketing
on Linux, and motorhome manufacturer Winnebago, are high-profile examples. Even
IBM is taking big doses of its own medicine. </P>
<P>Software licensing costs are often cited as a reason to switch to Linux, but
hardware costs can also be a factor. BP switched all its point of sale
terminals
to Linux from SCO's Unixware after realizing it meant that hardware did not
have
to be upgraded with the software, according to Scott Harrison, director of
Linux
distributor Red Hat.
<P>"SCO Unix was not going anywhere so BP had a strategy to migrate to Windows
NT," said Harrison. "The whole IT division had spent nine months trying port
the
applications, and when we started talking to them they had another six months
to
go. On top of that they would have to replace every single PC in two to three
thousand petrol stations around Europe because the machines in the field could
not run NT."
<P>One of BP's techies managed to port the application to Linux over a weekend,
and this was enough to persuade the company to change, according to Harrison.
"This saved them 20 million pounds in up-front hardware costs. They are still
upgrading their systems, but on a cycle that fits with the business needs
rather
than having to upgrade everything at once."
<P>The issue of software licensing, meanwhile, has become particularly
pertinent
in the recent financial climate. David Valentine, IBM Linux sales and marketing
executive, cites budget cuts as a key driver. "A lot of the customers I visit
have just about digested what Microsoft licensing changes mean," said
Valentine.
"One chief information office says he is having to deal with a 15 to 20 percent
budget cut each year, but his key supplier (Microsoft) is charging more for the
same functionality."
<P>Another reason companies are increasingly looking toward Linux is its
clustering capabilities, said Valentine. "Linux clusters allow you to take old
Pentium II or Pentium III PCs and get tremendous power for the price of a
teabag. We train our engineers on five-year-old PCs that have no other use. You
can create a very robust, very low-priced, high-capacity server."
<P>What's more, said Valentine, the skills are widespread. "Not a single
university in the UK has not turned out a student that can build a Beowulf
cluster, because they have done it already in college."
<P>Citing the "15 or 16 fairly large" Linux clusters in central London banks,
Valentine said that the company is not able to talk about them now, "but when
the (confidentiality) contract runs out, we will start publicizing them."
<P>IBM also has 25 customers sunning SAP on Linux. "There is a number of
significant global corporations moving SAP entirely to Linux," he said. "A lot
of customers are saying: 'if I can get these savings on the edge of the Web
(with Web and e-mail servers), what sort of savings can I get with
applications?'"
<P>"This will be the year that applications on Linux will become really
significant."
<P>Internally, IBM moved 841 servers to Linux in 2001, said Valentine. "Through
2002 this number will increase dramatically. It is done for one reason: to
lower
cost in a reliable, structured low-service way. We do this because it works, we
don't do this because it is a fashion statement." <p>
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