Avis Budget Shifts to Linux to Cut Software Costs in Half

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Avis Budget Group Inc. says market pressure in a more data-intensive era is forcing it to find more cost-efficient computing tools. In an effort to lower software costs and become more agile, the company will run open-source Linux software over its IBM mainframe, which it says is a less expensive and more manageable alternative to the IBM z/OS operating system it has been using.

The car rental and sharing firm’s actions demonstrate a fundamental shift in the business technology landscape as CIOs look to new systems, often open source, capable of meeting increasing data demands, and at a lower cost. Legacy vendors like IBM Corp. are under pressure to refocus efforts from core hardware offerings to software and services in time to meet this demand.

Read more at Wall Street Journal.