Obsidian Systems, SA`s largest Linux-centric company, has launched its Linux Migration Service, a portfolio of consulting services geared towards helping companies to evaluate the potential cost savings of using open source software in their IT environments.
This service provides customers with a thorough financial, economical and functional analysis of their IT environments and provides feedback about where organisations can save money by implementing Linux and other open source solutions.
Says Anton de Wet, technical director at Obsidian Systems: "South African companies are starting to look at alternatives to commercial software in response to the increasing rand costs of software as well as the inflexible new licensing structures introduced by many software vendors.
"Linux, in particular, has received a lot of good press of late, and many companies are eager to introduce the operating system into their IT environments. Our service helps them to take stock of where they are now with their IT environments, what their IT operational costs are, and where they can start introducing open source software in a way that they can drive costs down without disrupting their day-to-day business."
The service helps companies to chart a long-term open source strategy so that they can migrate users and IT administration staff onto open source alternatives to proprietary operating systems, databases, applications and tools with the minimum amount of disruption. It also helps companies to determine what their end-user and IT support training requirements will be.
"Linux offers high levels of reliability, centralised management and uptime. It also allows companies to accrue vast savings on licensing costs. The flipside is that the operating system can be intimidating for new end-users and to support staff without a grounding in Unix," says De Wet. "That means that migration to the operating system needs to be carried out in a phased approach with the appropriate delivery of training and support. Our consulting service helps companies to set up milestones for migration so that they remain in control of the process every step of the way."
In addition to Linux, the service covers open source applications such OpenOffice and tools such as the PostgreSQL database. The Linux Migration Service taps the years of expertise Obsidian`s consultants have gathered in analysing customers` IT environments and crafting open source solutions that meet their business needs.
De Wet says: "Our intention is not to propose that open source software can replace every piece of proprietary software, but rather to help companies establish where it is a compelling alternative.
"We also help our customers to understand its advantages and pitfalls. For example, the savings on licensing costs may be the most attractive benefit for smaller companies, while large companies will appreciate the stability, easy administration and remote/centralised management features found in Linux."
Share