Thanks to IBM's hefty investment in Linux technology, it is also possible to work in a Linux environment on a mainframe, as Kevin Sharkie, CIO of investment and funds management group Aviva, discovered at an information session in 2002.
Until 2003 Aviva was relying on its sister company, Melbourne-based CGU, to conduct its mainframe processing for its life insurance business, while the rest of the company's financial products were run on 300 application servers running a mixture of Sun Solaris and Windows 2000.
Frustrated by security maintenance requirements on the Windows servers, and loathe to perpetually expand the company's server infrastructure, Sharkie opted to install a new IBM mainframe when CGU was sold in 2002. Unlike traditional mainframes, the z800 offered a virtual Linux environment, which facilitated the transfer of many of the company's applications.
"When IAG bought CGU to in November 2002, our mainframe services and legacy systems had to be moved back," Sharkie says. "This opened up the window of opportunity to consider the progressive consolidation of Aviva's server farm under IBM's z800 virtual Linux servers."
Finding mainframes a less expensive alternative to independent application and data server farms, Sharkie has used the virtual Linux environment to retire 190 servers, and plans to cut a further 80. "Most system application software solutions and databases can run in a Linux environment. So in reducing the number of UNIX or Linux environments that reside on their own server hardware, we can plan the upgrades with a high degree of risk management," Sharkie explains.
"There are some applications that just can't be converted to run under Linux. So we will keep about 10 percent of the applications operating in a Windows server environment, but they'll be isolated to protect the rest of the system from hackers."
As for support and installation Aviva engaged IBM business partner and systems integrator ISI back in October 2003, to manage the entire IBM z800 environment.
The project has been so successful Sharkie plans to keep ISI busy, as Aviva looks to progressively convert its Sybase databases from a Solaris UNIX environment to Oracle on the virtual Linux servers.
Breaking Taboos
From family-owned companies, to ASX-listed behemoths, Linux-based servers are proving popular at all levels of business in Australia.
Owner-less and largely hype-less, Linux continues to be plagued with concerns regarding its stability, and support, despite the overwhelmingly positive response from those companies actually using the software.
Analysts are notably understated when discussing Linux adoption, and more than a few proprietary vendors are considering changes to their licensing charges and policies in response to increasing open-source adoption.
By now we all know it's not actually free, what we need to remember is that it isn't easy either. Linux in most environments will run faster, cheaper, and more reliably than its counterparts, so long as it's thoroughly researched and appropriately implemented.
However, with the early adopters praising its virtues the danger we face now is that businesses will attempt to switch to Linux-based operating systems without doing their homework.
To avoid the monumental tech disasters which often follow poorly researched me-too adoptions, businesses need to be looking realistically at Linux, and the companies which offer to support it in the enterprise.
This means breaking through the politics, etiquette, and taboos and having open discussions about what, if any, benefits open-source can bring to your business.
If you need a confidence boost, try kicking off the conversation with your opinion of the new Pope, or George W Bush. At least that way your cohorts will be relieved when you bring the conversation around to open-source software.
This article was first published in Technology & Business magazine.
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