Novell's Linux desktop migration enters phase two
Published:10-March-2005
By BR staff writer
Novell has entered phase two of its Open Desktop Initiative to roll out Linux as the desktop operating system for its 6,000 internal employees, with plans to get 100% of them using Linux by the end of May.
The Waltham, Massachusetts-based software vendor's Linux desktop migration began in 2004 and overachieved on its phase-one goals, the company's chief information officer, Debra Anderson told ComputerWire.
The fact that Novell had just acquired Linux specialists Ximian and SUSE Linux and was making the transition to become a Linux vendor obviously helped, but Anderson is still stepping up the pace to ensure that Linux becomes the company's default desktop operating system.
"This year we're moving more aggressively," Anderson said. "We want to get 100% of Novell on a Linux desktop, including dual-boot, and the second part is to drive a single Linux image and have 80% by the end of the year turn off Windows."
The company has already made the open source OpenOffice.org productivity suite its default office suite ahead of schedule, and now has 83% of employees actively using it on a daily basis. A voluntary migration also saw the company beat its goal to get 50% of users onto Linux by the end of October 2004.
Some of those are utilizing dual-boot technologies to enable both Windows and Linux on the same desktop. The next phase is to get 80% of those Windows instances turned off by the end of the year by encouraging 10% of users in every role in the company that are dual-booting to make the change.
"This year we're driving more aggressively to a single Linux desktop image," said Anderson. This is the year in which I want to touch every role and learn what the transition difficulties are. My expectation at the end of the year is to not only get 80% there but also know why the other 20% can't get there."
Most of the users are moving to Novell Linux Desktop, launched in November 2004, and some in engineering are on SUSE Linux 9.2 to meet additional development requirements. Anderson estimated in September 2004 that Novell had made savings of about $900,000 on Microsoft Windows and Office license and maintenance savings from the move.
Despite additional movement on to Linux, Anderson does not expect to make substantial additional savings, at least not from licenses. "We have an ROI on the desktop roll-out that I'm trying to get my arms around," she said. "I still think there's a positive ROI on the desktop, but I took the majority of the license savings with last year's actions. I'm expecting savings on the security side on the desktop, and the stability side."
Novell's internal strategy of rolling out Linux to its entire desktop user base differs from its advice to customers, which is about finding where Linux can deliver the most business value and focusing on that first. Anderson maintains that by making the move en masse, the company as a whole is learning valuable lessons about Linux on the desktop.
"We're willing as a company to make this migration because we're willing to learn. Although it's challenging I think we're really enjoying pushing the migration, knowing what we're knowing and learning what we're learning," she said.
"My guidance to other CIOs is to look at where there is business value," she added. "Bottom line, it's about business value. This isn't about taking on Microsoft head on, it's about finding the value, which could be security, it could be cost, and it could be synergies."
