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Usha Martin : Migration from Microsoft Tech to Linux

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PCQ Bureau
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The rise in security threats from malware provoked the company to shift to a

system which is more secure and robust. The increase in total cost of operations

(TCO) to make IT infrastructure more secure made matters worse. So, the company

decided to shift to SUSE LINUX from Novell. The key parameters considered were:

Integration of existing applications (ERP client, mail client etc); after-sales

support from the principal company; end-users convenience and comfort; seamless

migration; and the effect it will have on the TCO without compromising the

above. Carrying out migration of this scale (where infrastructure consists of

multiple geographical locations and manufacturing units with 700+ users) from a

system which is already in place for several years and then ensuring smooth

operation post-migration, was bound to throw up sudden & unexpected challenges.

The major one was to keep the system downtime as minimum as possible during

migration. Resistance from the end-users was another and stemmed from their fear

of coming out from the comfort zone and getting used to the new system. Other

technical issues faced were: running existing MS-Excel files which were having

huge & complex formulae or at times MS-PowerPoint files with open-office; and

availability of printer/scanner drivers. The benefits to the organization are:

system crash occurrence came down by almost 90%; TCO came down by 90%; IT team

now could put its energy, time and concentrate on more value—added tasks.

Project Specs
  • Deployment Location: Pan India
  • Team Size: 5
  • Tech Used: Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 SP1; SUSE Linux

    Enterprise server 10 SP1; OpenOffice.org; and Thunderbird.
  • Expected life: Long-term deployment

    S K Jala



    CIO (Group IT)
    S K Rudra



    Network Admin (Group IT)
Implementation Partner
NA
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