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Telstra To Put Linux On Desktop
StArSkY writes "The Australian has an article today outlining how Telstra, Australia's largest Telco, is switching to Linux and open source on the desktop. Their pilot has been quite successful, and improved stability has been noticed. On trial are Star Office, Gnome, Mozilla and Wyse. Spending AUD$1.5 Billion a year on IT, means Telstra using Open Source is a massive boost to Open Source developers and support professionals. Not mentioned in the Article is that Telstra also just Dumped IBM Global Services, and will be running IT in-house again! Telstra will be hiring Linux-savvy people I think..."
No doubt there is also motivation by Ziggy Switkowski to keep improving their profit margins to make up for their low share value.
n sf /0/A315C020E468EDB5CA256BD1000FBBB6?OpenDocument
Telstra 1 Shares were offered around $3.60 (Australian), and peaked in late 1999 at $9.15 (Australian).
Telstra 2 Shares were offered at $7.40 (Australian) in late 1999, and are currently trading at just over $5.00 (Australian)
http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/eddesk.
Share Info.
Hmm... I heard a whisper about this earlier, and there were suspicions earlier when I read the Financial Review and was told that they need to halve their IT spending.
I don't know if Telstra are doing this because of the benefits that Open Source could provide, or cause they've been told to save money.
I just hope that they get it right for once. They seem to have enough trouble with their Microsoft products.... (the school's system in South Australia -- run by Telstra -- was down for three hours due to the Blaster worm on Monday, as was a number of Telstra dialup and e-mail....)
This company's infrastructure is (going to be) made up of many different types of systems and platforms, each interoperating.
This is a win for everybody---well, except for HP-UX, which they're dropping.
The point is, each different type of system has filled an important niche. Linux for the thin client front-ends and the financial database, Solaris for the web server and for scalability, and Win?? for "the simple stuff." (Can you say "role reversal?")
Well, some of those specifics are off, as I need sleep. But I think I conveyed my general point here.
Duuuude... it's symbiosis... so beautiful, man...
Yep, I did some research, and found the article in the Financial Review. (mentioned in earlier post)
Telstra to Slash IT Bill in Half Interesting.
SMH article about indian company that looks to get deal
Yay me!
lots of universities use OSS heavily
In my line of work I've had a lot of contact with universities, and I must say I've barely seen a whisper of open source usage. Perhaps there are small departments here and there who are getting into it, but if so I'm yet to see it. Good on them if they are, however.
a number of banks (with the proud exception of PestWhack) here in Australia are linux-friendly
I'll put my hand up to being a Westpac customer, and I must say that I've never had any problems using their online banking, either on Linux or Windows (using both Opera and Mozilla Firebird on both operating systems). I have heard of people having lots of problems trying to do online banking on Linux, but I can't say I've ever heard Westpac's name mentioned in conjunction with that. FWIW, I think that Westpac's online banking is quite good compared to that of its competitors.
the biggest sticks in the corporate mud for insisting on Microsoft are the Federal and State governments
This is a landscape that is changing quite rapidly in Australia. The South Australian government is actively trying to pass a bill mandating that all government departments use open source software in preference to Microsoft, et al, where practical. A number of other state governments, including Queensland and (I think) Victoria are watching the case with interest, and if it is a successful program, will more than likely move down the same path. I'm sure it won't be long before this sort of publicity reaches critical mass and other government and corporate entities start to take notice and make the shift.
Having said that, it wouldn't come as a surprise to me if I learned that MS, or other software companies with vested interests in government/big business, started offering financial incentives for these organisations not to switch over to open source...
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Telstra's parting with IBM GSA is probabely as much Telstra's decision as GSA's. I don't want to go into the history too much, but basically:
Telstra had a subsid. company named Advantra. Advantra was a SME outsourcer. IBM owned 1/3, Telstra owned 1/3.
IBM has a subsid SME outsourcer named IBM GSA. IBM owns 1/3, Telstra owns 1/3.
Both of these companies had a role in the support of Telstra desktops and resources. Things have changed. Advantra has since, after a name change, been integrated back into Telstra, after IBM dropping it's investment in the company. GSA has become a legacy problem for Telstra, who are looking to insource again. GSA is also looking to insource (as Telstra handles significant portions of GSA's services to customers).
It's just a cleaning up exercise.