Insight

On the open road

An open source strategy is an essential component of the Indian CIO’s toolbox, says Srikanth R P

Just a few years back, most Indian CIOs did not bat an eyelid when they heard the word Linux or Open Source software (OSS). OSS was relegated to geeks who discussed it on mailing lists. Most CIOs were happy to see the penguin doing non-critical work such as running a mail server. However, the doubts and uncertainties surrounding Linux and OSS began to dispel when many of the top enterprise application vendors came forward to embrace the penguin. Though vendors such as Oracle and IBM pushed Linux with all their might, CIOs stayed sceptical. Nevertheless, a few Indian CIOs, tempted by cost considerations, began to experiment with Linux.

Their success stories became case studies for the Linux community in India. Soon the word spread, and today most Indian enterprises have adopted Linux and other OSS applications in some form or the other. Looking at the financial benefits of OSS applications, it has now become imperative for every Indian CIO to consider an OSS strategy.

Those Indian organisations that have made OSS applications a part of their IT infrastructure are reaping the benefits. Consider IDBI Bank which started experimenting with Linux in 1997. Like most organisations, it started off with an e-mail management system. Chief Technology Officer Sanjay Sharma was impressed with the system as it scaled from 600 users to 2,000 without any additional investments being required for hardware. Thrilled with the results, the bank started looking for applications that could be run on Linux. An opportunity materialised and the bank deployed Oracle HRMS and Oracle Financials on Linux. IDBI’s hesitancy was overcome when Oracle certified the Linux platform backed by a promise to solve issues related both to its product and the underlying Linux operating system. As Linux promised a minimum 30 percent savings in fixed costs compared to RISC-based platforms, the bank went ahead, and though it scaled up from 600 to 2,000 users on its Oracle HRMS system on Linux, this too was accomplished without additional capital expenditure on hardware.

Looking beyond cost

While most organisations have started looking at Linux primarily as a means of cutting costs, others such as United Phosphorous (UP) have adopted it because they do not want to be locked to a single vendor. Says Rajesh Panchal, IT Head at the company, “We always try to ensure that we have the choice of deciding the platform for any application that is deployed.” The company is a big fan of OSS software, and it has deployed these applications wherever possible. Linux runs on 450

PCs equipped with the OpenOffice.org office suite. For PCs at its factories, the company uses Linux-based thin clients. These machines are used to access a wide variety of applications from SAP to e-mail to the intranet. The company uses an OSS instant messaging application called Psi for internal communication. Applications such as petty cash and leave management systems run on Linux using MySQL as the database.

Resurrecting old hardware

By using Linux, UP can use its existing hardware for a longer period. In the past, before it took the OSS route, the company was forced to replace close to 150 PCs a year as a result of the demands placed on hardware by its applications. A Linux-based thin client model has ensured that UP now has to invest

only on the server front. Maintenance is hassle-free as every application is centralised on the server, and all upgrades have to be made only on the server. Adds Jitesh Sable, Senior Manager, IT at the company, “By using Linux we have prolonged the life of our hardware investments by two years. We estimate our annual cost savings to be around 40 percent.”

One of India’s most savvy IT users, HDFC Bank, has deployed Linux as the platform for two applications—a proxy server and PKI (Public Key Infrastructure). The bank has been using OpenOffice on more than 7,000 desktops for about two years. It has also deployed Linux-based desktops for the use of its outbound telemarketing team.

Says C N Ram, Head of IT at the bank, “So far, our experience with OSS has been that we have saved costs for office automation software and for the proxy server. We have also found [Linux-based applications] to be virus-free and predominantly trouble-free.” In a way, Linux has triggered the adoption of other OSS applications as most CIOs were not aware of its benefits till they tried Linux.

Mission Critical

The fact that Linux is even being used to run mission-critical applications in some companies is significant. Take the example of UP, which, besides running file and print servers, runs SAP R/3 4.7 on Linux. Another example is the National Stock Exchange which has deployed a Linux-based cluster to run a risk management solution for the derivatives segment. Notes G M Shenoy, Senior Vice-president of NSE.IT, “A major benefit has been the acquisition cost. Also, security on Linux is fairly comprehensive, and there have been no issues regarding it.”

Ugam Solutions, a BPO company playing in the high-end data analytics space, is another user of OSS applications. Ugam uses the Qmail mail server, Apache Web Server, Tomcat application server, and MySQL database. Besides the cost savings, the scalability of OSS applications is also proving attractive. Explains Mihir Kittur, Chief Operating Officer of Ugam, “We use MySQL to store consumer information. The scalability of the database is never in doubt as it can hold around 4-5 million customer records. This database is comparable to any commercial database offering.”

Secure Linux

The increasing maturity of OSS applications can be seen from the rising use of these to secure organisations. Asian Paints runs a VPN server on FreeBSD (a popular OSS operating system). The firewall runs on Linux. Additionally, the company uses Ethereal, an OSS network analysis tool, for troubleshooting and analysis. Other OSS security tools used are Nmap, a network analysis tool which can be used for scanning networks, and Nessus, a security scanner that has the ability to detect the remote flaws of hosts on a network.

As with some other companies, Asian Paints’ brush with OSS started with its messaging system, Qmail. It started using Qmail five years ago, and today runs no less than nine mail servers that support 3,000 users. Says M R Parasuram, the company’s Manager of Systems Development, “We have almost no running costs for providing mail services.” The company has also implemented OpenLDAP, an OSS implementation of the Lightweight Directory Access protocol which it uses to authenticate users who access different internal applications. It also uses Plone, an OSS content management system. Similarly, the NSE uses Nagios, an OSS system administration tool. Apache, the world’s most popular web server, is another OSS success story. Affirms Anil Garg, Senior Vice-president, IT and New Media, Sony Entertainment Television, “We have been running our website on Apache for almost six years and have faced no problem.”

Customised services

Linux vendors need to encourage ISVs to adopt Linux as one of the major platforms for their applications C N Ram Head, IT HDFC Bank	Expecting a corporate user to replace existing investments with a new technology en masse is wishful thinking Arun Gupta Senior Director Business Technology Pfizer	We have been running our website on Apache for almost six years and have faced no problem Anil Garg Senior Vice-president IT & New Media Sony Entertainment Television

Customisation is a selling point for OSS. Take the case of FCB-Ulka, whose Linux solution provider, Netcore, was able to customise a messaging and security solution for the company. This task became easier as the Linux source code is available. Says Ritu Madbhavi, General Manager for IT at the ad agency, “If it were not for OSS, Netcore would not have been able to do the high degree of customisation that we required.” Besides the mail server, FCB-Ulka is using Linux for its firewall application.

Roadblocks exist

While OSS in general and Linux in particular are gaining ground, there are a host of challenges that have to be addressed before we see the ‘Linux Inside’ logo on every computer.

Says Arvind Kathpalia, Group Head, Operations, Technology and Finance, Kotak Mahindra Bank, “While Linux offers great TCO, getting the platform certified according to security standards is still a concern. There is also a lack of trained skills on Linux.” He says that these two factors alone can push up the costs of deploying it. Most organisations which have implemented Linux or other OSS applications have people who are trained in Linux or the other OSS applications. In the absence of skill-sets within the organisation, the cost of running OSS applications is a factor that has to be considered.

ISV support thus becomes a crucial factor. Currently, in the absence of ISV support for core banking on Linux, most banks are sceptical about deploying core applications on Linux even if it means lower costs for them. Says C N Ram of HDFC Bank, “Linux vendors need to encourage ISVs to adopt Linux as one of the major platforms for their applications. They should also ensure the adoption of Linux at the learning stage by providing the necessary assistance at all educational institutions.” ISV support is critical for any application, and all the more so for Linux as most enterprises are still not clear about which vendor will support them for the application and the underlying platform. Comments Arun Gupta, Senior Director, Business Technology, Pfizer, “Expecting a corporate user to replace existing investments with a new technology en masse is wishful thinking. Vendors need to help the CIO with a transition plan that is seamless, and create a scenario wherein existing investments are protected.”

But with the exception of vendors such as Oracle, most enterprise vendors who have ported their applications on Linux do not offer support for the underlying OSS. Says Ashok Adhikary, Associate Director, Kvaerner Powergas India, “Ours is an engineering company, and most of the applications work only in the Microsoft environment. We use 3D graphical CAD software such as Intergraph which are based on proprietary systems. Validation guarantees are not available for working with mixed models. That’s why we will not be able to use Linux until software vendors embrace it and port their applications on it.”

In conclusion, while doubts remain about Linux, its adoption has spurred the adoption of other OSS applications in the Indian enterprise. With OSS options now available for almost every need, the Indian CIO has to have an open source strategy in place.

srikanth@expresscomputeronline.com