The Linux Debate

Novacoast is the company to call for slashing IT costs. This consulting firm was designed to help companies avoid costly infrastructure and technology-purchasing mistakes, offering advice on technology direction. But one of the company’s more unique specialties involves converting businesses from Windows to Linux.

The open source operating system’s server side presence is not uncommon, but it hasn’t made much of an in-road into the business notebook space. It’s difficult to obtain a hard estimate on the number of Linux notebooks on the market due to the fact that anyone can install the OS, but analyst firm NPD states that it made up 3 percent of laptops sold between January and May 2009. But, thanks to a down economy that has companies scrambling to minimize expenses, the low cost of implementing Linux has peaked some interest from Novacoast clients. And Novacoast itself moved to Linux five years ago.

“We switched to Linux for two reasons: financial cost and security,” said Dan Elder, Linux services manager for Novacoast. Now 85 percent of Novacoast’s notebook fleet is outfitted with Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.

The Frugal Alternative

Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, the commonly-used business Linux distribution, is a Windows-replacement package. It comes bundled with all the essential applications, including a browser, e-mail program, and productivity suite. But the best part of SUSE is what you’ll pay.

“You can save up to 90 percent of your costs on Windows and MS Office licenses,” said Kevin Foster, client OS senior product manager at Novell, a company that supplies its SUSE Linux to business customers such as Novacoast.

Novell offers SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and its bundled software for free, but charges a per-notebook fee for maintenance packages (starting at $50 for one year, and $135 for three years) that cover customer migration, support, and security patches. Alternatively, Microsoft offers Office as separate purchases (the price of which being based on the varying factors of license numbers and the industry, among others). The National Library of South Africa, for example, switched to SUSE Linux and saved more than $700,000 per year.

“For most organizations, we’re usually able to migrate around 75 percent of the users to Linux with a total cost of ownership of about $1,000 less per machine,” said Elder. He estimated that Novacoast saves $600 per computer, per year, with its move to Linux.

Additionally, because Linux is lightweight, it can run smoothly on older, aging hardware. In other words, a company doesn’t need to rapidly refresh its notebook line to keep up with the requirements of Windows. Novacoast’s sales team, for example, requires basic Office applications and a Web browser to be productive, so they can keep older notebooks for a longer period of time. Elder estimated that Linux could expand the typical laptop lifecycle to four or five years—if not more.

Top-Notch Security and Stability

Being small has its benefits. Linux’ small user base, for instance, means less interest from hackers. That means less malware, and thus, lower security costs. It also means less money spent.

“Even with a good antivirus regimen, most organizations end up paying ten times that amount on support costs, such as keeping [it] up and running, rebuilding systems that became infected, and resolving compatibility issues,” said Elder. “We save money by not having to deal with such issues.”

Plus, the Unix kernel Novell uses is considered very secure. “We do spend time looking at the kernel, to make sure that our AppArmor antivirus is preloaded on all of our devices,” said Novell’s Foster. “Because it’s open source, many people are reviewing it on a regular basis and correcting it as well.”