Linux Goes Global

Serious Linux deployments are popping up all over, from German insurers to Chinese banks.

By Mitch Betts

July 18, 2005 12:00 PM ET

Recommended

Computerworld - Although the fact that Linux is an international phenomenon isn't too surprising, since the kernel was invented by Finnish student Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki. But what began as a modest programming effort -- just a hobby, Torvalds once said -- has grown beyond the stage of a few maverick users thumbing their noses at Microsoft. In Asia, for example, shipments of Linux server licenses grew by 36% in 2004, while shipments of client licenses rose 49%, IDC says.

So, for this special report, we fanned out beyond U.S. shores to find out who's using Linux and why. Some of the deployments are quite substantial: The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China plans to use Linux for all front-end banking operations, Banca Popolare di Milano in Italy is rolling out 4,500 Linux desktops, and LVM Insurance in Germany has Linux on 7,700 desktops and 30 servers, for example.

The reasons for Linux deployments vary, but increasingly they're based less on zealotry and more on practicalities. "It was not that we just wanted to do open-source. We had to find a way to protect our investment in network computing," says an IT manager at LVM Insurance. Another IT executive in Europe says he made the switch to save money on hardware: "Linux in and of itself as an operating system was not the driver. The fact is, Linux enabled us to use a commodity platform."

So join us on a tour of Linux activity around the world. It's much more than a hobby.

Mitch Betts is executive editor at Computerworld. Contact him at mitch_betts@computerworld.com.

Linux Goes Global

Stories in this report:

Read more about operating systems in Computerworld's Operating Systems Knowledge Center.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

EFD vs. HDD - What You Need to Know

Enterprise flash drives provide a new Tier 0 storage layer capable of delivering high I/O performance at a very low latency. Proper use of EFDs in an Oracle environment can deliver increased performance compared to fibre channel drives. Read the recommendations for identification of the best DB components for EFDs.

WHITE PAPER

Gartner Research Report: Magic Quadrant for Application Delivery Controllers, 2009

The market for products to improve the delivery of application software over networks remains dynamic and innovative. Vendors focused on solving enterprises' most-pressing application problems have become the top players.

WHITE PAPER

Eight Criteria for Server Load Balancing

Server load balancers are a simple yet highly effective means to scale an application environment while ensuring its availability. Today's solutions should also address application performance and security. Read about the top eight criteria you should consider when choosing a server load balancer and how Citrix NetScaler meets those requirements.