Australian Government Agency Moves Towards Linux

An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet Australia is reporting that Centrelink, the Australian government agency responsible for distributing social security payments, is investigating Novell's Open Enterprise Server as a method of consolidating huge chunks of its network. Centrelink's national manager is quoted as saying: "We have to look at remote access, virus protection, security. Linux has those capabilities but we have to assure our more senior executives that these boxes have the same level of security and protection as the commercial products""

Comments

Largest network in the southern hemisphere?

[ZombieEngineer]

I vaugely recall that Centrelink's network was the largest in the southern hemisphere (by user/node count).

Could anyone please confirm/refute this?

ZombieEngineer

Re:Hope its for real

[strider44]

I doubt that that'll happen - they're moving from mostly Novell to all Novell. That they're totally moving operating systems isn't exactly the point here because Novell definitely isn't going to complain.

Not as good as it may sound

[Magickcat]

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has also been thinking about Linux for while.

The CSA (Child Support Agency), a branch of the ATO has a terrible database, and theirs links into Centrelink's DB. At present Centrelink's systems are very poor indeed.

I'm sorry to sound cynical, but the Australian government often takes the cheapest option, and doesn't put in much in to system design or BPR. It's entirely likely that whether they use Linux or not, their systems will be underfunded, and most likely will have little to no design. Linux might get yet another boost from it's adoption in terms of PR, but I wouldn't want to make a bet on enjoying the end product.