Desktops

Linux starts making inroads

Adoption of desktops, notebooks and Linux is increasing in the medium business segment. By Vinita Gupta

According to the survey along with desktops medium businesses have adopted notebooks on a large scale. From the base of 167, 99 percent of respondents have desktops and 93 percent have notebooks. Also 16 percent of the respondents have deployed thin clients.

Looking at Linux

Most medium companies use Windows, perhaps because these businesses were small in the past and have been using Windows platform for a variety of reasons including lack of awareness on Linux. For instance Supreme Limited, a anufacturing/Engineering company has been using Windows 98 from 1997.

That said, in the future, some of these companies are planning to invest in Linux as they feel that it is a cost-effective platform. For e.g., Jagsonpal Pharmaceutical have around 200 PCs running Windows but is now planning to switch to Linux. Prakash Pradhan, the company’s IT Head, says, “We want to replace the OS, as with Windows we face several problems like virus attacks and licensing. Linux is available free and will help reduce the per user cost.”

Awareness and adoption among mid-sized businesses is high when it comes to open source. This is indicated by the fact that system vendors are increasingly bundling open source software with their products, ranging from PCs and notebooks to mid- and high-end servers in order to lower the cost of solutions for end-users.

However the Linux market per se has not reached a level where it can be said to be prominent. It may be because of low awareness levels or lack of technical manpower as compared to other options. There are many companies who still prefer to use Windows as they feel that it is user friendly.

Go..IP solutions, a system integrator company uses Windows XP. Navin Kumar its Vice President, Tech adds, “As compared to Linux, Windows is easy to use as it is user friendly. The company has 200 desktops and the exact number of users.”

“We prefer Windows as we feel comfortable using it,” says Vinit Dixit, IT Head of Lipi Data Systems. The majority of companies choose Windows because they prefer to work on it.

The two big challenges facing Linux in the mid-sized market are the lack of IT staff having skills in Linux and the lack of application support.

Hence the task ahead for Linux or the open source community is to develop a pool of trained manpower. To do this, it needs to lure students to choose open source as their career path. This trend is already seen.

Pentium 4 preferred

The configuration preferred by the medium business on the PCs varies according to the need but most of the companies have Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM and an 80 GB hard disc which slightly differs from the small business, having P3 or P4 processor with 256 or 512 MB RAM and usually 40 GB hard disc. The companies basically used desktops for applications, documentation and Internet browsing; they prefer P4 as they want speed. They usually prefer branded PCs rather than assembled ones.

Henkel CAC, a chemical and pharmaceutical company has about four offices in India. In their Mumbai office they have around 150 employees and 120 desktops. The operating system used is Windows XP Pro. According to Manikkam V S, the company’s IT Head, “Nowadays this configuration has become the basic requirement.” Go. IP Solutions uses the same configuration.

Henkel CAC uses branded PCs from IBM and Lenovo as the company has a policy to use branded PCs.

P R Deshpande, Assistant Manager, Mather and Platt Pumps adds, “We have a configuration of a P4 processor, 2 GB RAM, 500 GB hard disk. We use Microsoft Exchange on client-server architecture and hence require 2 GB RAM.”

Medium businesses usually do not have a fixed time period in which they replace their hardware and software; they replace it as the need arises. Every two to three years most companies either replace or upgrade their PCs.

Unlike small businesses, mid-sized companies have an IT department. Therefore the process of replacing and upgrading computers is either outsourced or done in house. For instance, Jagsonpal Pharmaceuticals is in the process of upgrading the software and hardware on its PCs. The software upgrades are carried out internally and the hardware upgrades are outsourced.

“We are in the process of upgrading the old systems, 70 percent are already completed,” adds Pradhan. Earlier the company used to have assembled PCs but faced problems and hence they have moved to branded desktops.

In around two and half years Supreme Limited replaces the software and hardware on the PC. The company uses assembled PCs as these are cheaper than branded ones and has never faced any problem in using it.

Notebooks on the rise

The use of notebooks is seen among employees, who are mobile and higher up in the hierarchy. The survey indicates that 93 percent of the companies (from the base of 167 respondents) use notebooks, which is a bit higher when compared to small business (76 percent from a base of 197). Most medium businesses stick to Windows running on branded notebooks.

According to the survey the highest adoption of notebooks is in Auto & Auto Components that is 100 percent (from the base of 18), followed by Manufacturing/Engineering and Services where the numbers are 96 and 91 percent respectively.

Anand Automotive Systems have six laptops for the marketing team. M Q Jamil, the company’s Office Manager adds, “The marketing people are always on the field. In our organisation laptops are used by marketing people so that they can interact with the people in the office while out on the field.” The company runs Windows XP.

Lipi Data Systems, a printer manufacturing company has more then 100 laptops for its marketing department.

According to the survey 88 percent of respondents from the Chemical & Pharma vertical use laptops. Jagsonpal Pharmaceutical has 50 notebooks for sales staff and senior executives with Windows 2000 and Windows XP as the OS and a Reliance card for Internet access.

Still investing

The survey indicates that last year 86 percent (from the base of 167) had invested in desktops. Despite this, all the verticals in the medium business segment are planning to continue making investments on desktops and notebooks. The highest investment is been planned by Auto & Auto Components as from the base of 18, 78 percent are investing on desktops and notebooks and 11 percent on thin clients followed by the Services and Chemical & Pharma vertical.

As compared to the small segment, medium businesses are planning to invest on thin clients as they feel that thin clients are more cost-effective than desktops and by investing on the same, companies can save money as thin clients require less maintenance and security. The highest thin clients investment is been made by FMCG/Consumer Durables that is 27 percent (from the base of 11) followed by Manufacturing/Engineering and IT/ITES industry with 25 and 22 percent respectively.

Unlike small industries where the investment decisions are made by the management and they usually lack a planned budget for the same, in the medium business segment the investment decision is made by the IT head and they do have a planned budget for instance at Henkel CAC, the IT head takes the investment decision and this year the company has an IT budget of around Rs 20-25 lakhs.