AfriBiz MD Mr K Le Roux says: "Although AfriBiz used the Linux operating system in our development projects for many years, it became very obvious to us that Linux is beneficial to both AfriBiz and our clients. The two major benefits to our clients are the facts that the Linux community is mostly Open-Source, and the very obvious cost saving. Maintenance is almost not worth mentioning due to the fact that Linux has been hardened and most of the maintenance requests are hardware related."
Mr. Le Roux continues by saying, that in order to expand in the current South African market, it becomes increasingly apparent that new avenues need to be explored, mostly due to stability of services and cost related issues. Client services are of the utmost importance, and with this in mind, Linux became an almost obvious choice.
The biggest concern however, was the inherent fear of Linux, that companies tend to show. It is believed by many, that Linux is a second grade product that is not very well supported. These fears for Linux however can easily be overcome by filling in the gaps that so many businesses have, by using Linux.
Even though the client has the final word on their network integration, we would rather see them making an informed decision based on more options that they are currently exposed to.
For many years now we have used Linux as our network servers and have demonstrated to others, the benefits of Linux. It is time to market Linux very aggressively in South Africa and to make Linux known for the great product it is. It is time for businesses to realize that there are a lot of options out there for them.
Linux integrates seamlessly with most other operating systems and can be deployed into existing network infrastructure with ease. Linux can compete successfully with current Internet servers, comprising of Print servers, File servers, Proxy servers, DNS servers, DHCP servers, Mail servers and the firewall market.
AfriBiz already added a new division to their business two years ago that is exclusively devoted to the Linux market. This division includes a new public relations and marketing section to fill the gaps between companies, and Linux. Our technical section is fully operational and can supply Linux services to the greater South African market.
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