"In contrast to its reputation for being difficult and sometimes
expensive to implement, some large enterprises are beginning to see
significant cost savings and performance benefits as a result of
migrating to Linux.
Harry Roberts, CIO for Boscov's Department Store LLC, in Reading, Pa.,
told attendees at the Linux Solutions Retail Conference here last week
that while a move to open source had initially been difficult to justify
to company executives who knew little about Linux, the cost savings the
company realized some two years into the implementation were enough to
quell dissent.
"The annual savings directly related to [Linux] implementation is my
trump card," Roberts said, adding that moving to Linux saved Boscov's $1
million in the first two years, with ongoing annual savings expected to
be about $500,000. That figure could rise to $1 million per year by 2007
as the retailer continues to port technologies to Linux."
"But while Linux is not free—"and don't let anyone tell you that it
is—part of our savings also came from human capital, where we now have
one person supporting all 200 instances of Linux in our enterprise,"
Boscov's Roberts said. "That allowed us to move other Windows support
staff to new functions.""
""The cost of Linux software will be less than half upfront, with almost
no ongoing costs, compared with Windows, which we believe will add a
cost of $180 a device every 24 to 30 months," Roberts said. "We will
avoid about $630,000 in costs every two years.""
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1821322,00.asp>
©2005 Bill Anderson |
