Linux gaining acceptance in Canberra

[John Griffiths]

A good article,

NOIE have been showing a lot of signs about having a clue and have been
slowly getting their agenda across with departmental IT staffs.

(even if someone AG's IT did suggest to me last month that we should send
email with MS Exchange to ensure compatiblity)

There's only one major OS with a significant number of Australian
developers and it's Linux.

Maybe some of the Big Brains on the list should be volunteering their
services to MOIE for their presentation to Cabinet on Linux mentioned in
the article?

John

At 04:09 PM 10/9/02 +1000, Simon Cousins wrote:
>
>Linux gaining acceptance in Canberra 
>By Steven Deare 
>9 October, 2002 9:18 Sydney, Australia
>
>http://www.computerworld.com.au/IDG2.NSF/a/00080826?OpenDocument&n=e&c=C
>P
>
>The Linux operating system is finding a welcome home in Canberra as an
>increasing number of Federal departments and agencies look towards
>cost-effective open source solutions. 
>
>Agencies are keen to trial Linux, eager to explore the costs and
>benefits, said Steve Alford, business strategies branch general manager
>for the National Office of the Information Economy (NOIE). 
>
>He cited existing procurement policy that states agencies are free to
>use open source software where it provides a value-for-money solution to
>their needs. 
>
>While it was hard to gauge which agencies' IT systems would gain most
>from Linux, savings alone meant government interest, said Alford. 
>
>"As Linux is implemented by more users both within government and
>industry, we will have a better idea of where [in government] Linux can
>be implemented with most benefit." 
>
>Peter Gigliotti is the assistant director of computing at the Bureau of
>Meteorology. He has had no problems using Linux for about two months on
>a development cluster for one of the government's largest Web servers. 
>
>Gigliotti is typical of government IT managers turning to Linux. 
>
>"Everybody's looking at the bottom line these days. I'd estimate we've
>made a cost saving of about 30 per cent, that's hardware and software,"
>he said. 
>
>"I suppose what else made us use Linux was confidence of stability, it's
>supported by the commercial channels now. There's been a lot of money
>spent on the development of it by companies like IBM. It can certainly
>provide a fair amount of computer power, too." 
>
>The scalability of Linux is also attractive for the government because
>it runs smoothly on mainframes, such as IBM's z Series mainframe used by
>the Department of Veterans Affairs. 
>
>Following an infrastructure upgrade, the Department of Veterans Affairs
>(DVA) moved to a thin client operation with one central data centre. It
>moved file and print servers to the mainframe to run under Linux. The
>network supports about 3000 PCs. 
>
>The reason behind the Linux move was "basically cost", said Alan Parker,
>information manager at the DVA. 
>
>"We will reduce floor space and less operator support will be required,
>especially in managing growth." 
>
>Parker said the Department had not been actively seeking to replace
>Microsoft software, but had SuSE Linux offered to them by IBM. 
>
>As open source supporters like IBM and Sun are also Commonwealth
>Government-endorsed suppliers, Linux has become more available to
>government agencies. 
>
>A lack of credible information on the total cost of ownership for Linux
>systems has so far prevented agencies from trialing Linux, said Alford.
>However, this will be addressed when NOIE briefs government officials on
>Linux before the year's end. 
>
>"Also, where agencies have outsourced their IT operations, using Linux
>may require contractual variations, and this may not be a simple
>exercise," he said. 
>
>This has been a huge wall for open source acceptance that is finally
>crumbling, said Cybersource managing director Con Zymaris. The Victorian
>professional services company specialises in open source solutions and
>training. 
>
>"What's traditionally worked against Linux in the government is that if
>something can't be used everywhere, they won't use it. 
>
>"The problem is that 80 per cent of people in government departments
>could use Linux desktops, but Microsoft contracts in effect lock the
>government down further than the contract period because it's difficult
>to get other software working on it." 
>
>He agrees mainframes are a big growth area for Linux with its
>scalability. 
>
>"Now that mainframes can run Linux, you can use its full power." 
>
>Zymaris referred to Telia Net in Sweden, one of Europe's first major
>commercial Linux installation which last year doubled the capacity of
>its initial mainframe Linux installation. This ran up to 1500 virtual
>Linux Internet servers simultaneously. A major commercial player, IBM,
>was involved here, too. 
>
>Now Linux is being used by government and with the NOIE seminar to come,
>it will gain a permanent place in government IT, said Zymaris. 
>
>The NOIE seminars will be held for Federal government officials by the
>end of the year. 
>
>While Zymaris acknowledged the problems of integrating Linux in
>government IT systems, he said the NOIE seminars were evidence
>government agencies could no longer ignore the benefits. 
>
>Just the fact that government agencies are "so conservative means that
>Linux has finally made it", he said.
>
>Ends.
>
>