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France Telecom goes Debian
aftersci writes "Partially privatized French TelCo FranceTelecom contracted with free-software consultants Alcove to revamp their infrastructure. Debian GNU/Linux, Apache, PostrgreSQL, Perl, and PHP will be used, though they apparently won't be throwing out all their Windows clients. Sorry, no France-Telecom link yet. "
And note that the article is in *gasp* French. So you might
want to use Babelfish for an
awkward and humorous translation.
Aftersci writes ...though they apparently won't be throwing out all their Windows clients as if this is a really bad thing. Au contraire, this is a very good thing -- it shows that there is a carefully considered infrastructure decision being made here; one that focuses on the best use of technology where it's critical, and the best use of already-purchased infrastructure when it's in hand.
Sure, I'd like to see the France Telecom executives get so gung-ho about free/oss software that they all rush out and get tattoos of RMS' visage on their foreheads and name their children Linus, but it's much more important in the real world for them to make *visible*, careful, considered, long-term-view decisions. When they do so, it sets an example for the rest of the business world to follow (and takes people one step closer to realizing that Linux is generally a safe infrastructure choice). This is the sort of progress that will inspire PHBs in smaller arenas to say "Wow. Telcos are using Linux on the back end. Maybe I won't ignore my sysadmin the next time he starts talking about upgrading from NT to that Linux/SAMBA thing."
I think not...(*poof*)
oddly enough it was not mentioned that French Debian Linux is not the same distro as anywhere else... it uses time based on the French Prime Meridian (http://slashdot.org/articles/99/07/01/1535256.sht ml) ... it's a terrible mess when sorting email by time [;
However, even the French will admit they tend to be a little backward on IT trends. I think it has to do with the language difference, which makes it harder to pick up on the e-Commerce craze, for instance, when most of said e-Commerce is in English.
I don't agree on this point. Language barrier do count, but that would also encompass the japanese, the german and every other non-anglophone nation.
Here in Quebec, most people speak french, but where doing quite well in IT trend, just lagging a bit behind the ROC (rest of Canada). We have a good burgeoning multimedia industrie (SoftImage, Ubisoft, to name a few).
Also worth noting : telematic, smart card and digital cell phone are WAY more advanced in deployement in France than in North America. We could argue that the Minitel is just a dumb terminal with a 1200 bauds modem, but it is been widely used for 15-20 years. Smart card has replaced most ID and phone card there while we are still stuck with mag-strip card most of the time. GSM phone had been avalaible almost everywhere on continental Europe for a MANY years while we are just deploying in urban area here in North America.
:wq
yes we are surely backwards in e-commerce but there are other things we do quite right. I've been living in the US for a few months now and I have a hard time thinking about anything in everyday life that is made easier by technology here. Actually you miss a few little things, like embedded chips on checking cards, and _you_ are a little backward on mobile phones and digital broadcasting. But you can buy cars on line, and you are ahead in the use of DSL (this we will probably catch up pretty fast) As for computer-illiterate senior executives, that wouldn't be too much of a problem for me. I'd prefer someone who relies on people who actually know, and who would make rational decisions in his field of competence, rather than someone who think he knows but who is actually clueless, like, say a vice president who thinks he has invented the internet, or a hype polluted MBA who thinks MS products must be good because if not why would Bill Gates be so rich. Actually the proportion of top execs who have extensive scientifical culture and technical background is higher in france because of how the education system works. Which is often seen as counter-productive in the economic field because a good engineer doesn't have to be a good manager, and a scientifically trained person would usually perform poorly when it comes to selling a product, or to make compromises. Which comes to what I think is the actual big difference : the economics. France's IT business' size is insignificant compared to the US' or even other european countries, in these "gold rush" fields like internet related stuff and PCs. This doesn't apply to other technological sectors (aeronautics, consummer electronics), that are not growing sectors, nor to telcos (france telecom is something like 4th or 5th in the world). Obviously we do not evaluate money loosing bookstores as being worth an oil company, but please try to be reasonnable in that, because if it collapses, this is not only the US, but the whole planet that would bear the consequences.
Alcôve has been able to win the bid because of the quality of their technical support and their extreme professionalism. France Télécom Paris is Alcôve's 500th customer.
France Télécom Paris's Project PHENIX (Standardized Intranet Hosting Platform, under Linux): each business unit, and central command, will create their own intranet site that will eventually interface with databases. Presently, those sites are hosted on NT and Linux servers, and are created with Frontpage. Dynamic and data-access pages are created with ASP/VBScript or Perl.
France Télécom Paris wishes to migrate all those sites to Linux, which supports all current and future requirements. The goal is to make things easier for the users, allow better scalability, and allow easier administration and use due to the stability of Linux.
Alcôve's bid: Debian Linux, Apache with Perl and PHP (which is more powerful than ASP/VBScript) and Frontpage Extensions, PostgreSQL (free SQL/92 software with an ODBC driver that allows tight integration with windows clients), ProFTPD (for document updates). A very professional and complete contract which will be renewed annually. It comprises project monitoring by a project leader, an Open Computing consultant, day-long meetings, on-site installation and configuration of the server, day-long training and a technical support contract.
For Lucien Petit, CEO of Alcôve: "This is a beautiful project. Add that to our recent strategic alliance with SGI, it makes us the Leader of Open Computing services. Our control position with the developers of Open Source Software allows us to help Big Companies and our friends. We are even working on 24/7 support to help them even more."
Original article was full of crap. I abridged it. Nothing important was lost.