UK-based LinuxIT recently announced it had released the
“Professional Open Desktop” series, calling it a solution designed for
“organizations with non-technical staff.” The company is offering a standard
version, based on Lindows, and an
enterprise version that makes use of Ximian
standards.
Peter Dawes-Huish, sales director for LinuxIT, says that his company has an
advantage because it isn’t tied into one package. “We are agnostic with regard
to hardware platforms and software components,” says Dawes-Huish. “Our aim is
to provide the very best solutions” and so the company will pick and choose
from available options — like Lindows and Ximian — and further customize them
to suit the customer’s demands.
This approach has helped the company in the UK market. Dawes-Huish claims that LinuxIT
is the most pervasive Linux presence there. “It is actually our support and
infrastructure that underpins most of the major systems integrators in the UK
who have any sort of Linux offering — from companies like IBM to solution
providers,” he says.
LinuxIT has an agreement with Lindows that is based on the Lindows Builder
Program, says Dawes-Huish. “We have a relationship with Lindows whereby we will
be sending them money associated with each implementation,” he say. “At the
moment it’s more based on the Insider program, but the mechanism for the
licensing is through the Builder program. As we progress, it will be more
commercial.”
The enterprise version of the desktop is a Ximian mod. “We have an arrangement
with Ximian at this stage as a reseller,” says Dawes-Huish, “and we are
discussing with Ximian where the future of that relationship should be. We have
some requests from our customer base about how Ximian should interact with
other products — we expect that it will become more of an OEM relationship.”
Dawes-Huish stresses that most of the desktops that go out of the shop are
customized to the specific needs of the client, even though the starting point
is pure Lindows or Ximian.
LinuxIT apparently is working on a deal with carmaker Ferrari. “We’re in the
process of implementing a structure [with them].” Dawes-Huish says the deal is
hush-hush right now, but LinuxIT expects to release official news in the next
few weeks, as well as a case study or two.
Category:
- Linux
