Open Source

Migrating to Linux

ELCOT has migrated to SUSE Enterprise Linux for Tamil Nadu’s school project that will help it protect its existing investments in hardware. By Mohd Shariff PA

ELCOT (Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu) is a well known organization in Tamil Nadu and it provides IT procurement services to the Government of Tamil Nadu. It has done away with its legacy enterprise server and has embraced SUSE enterprise server.

Tamil Nadu’s schools were running Microsoft Windows on a horde of aging machines—1,880 servers and around 30,000 desktops. The OS was in need for a refresh; however, moving to Windows Vista looked like an expensive option largely on account of the increased hardware requirement. ELCOT decided to move its own systems from Windows to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. After the success of this project, the company is rolling out SUSE Linux Enterprise in Tamil Nadu’s schools. Already over 3,000 new PCs have been supplied to government offices with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop loaded on them.

ELCOT has been procuring hardware and software for the various departments of the Government of Tamil Nadu since 1977. The organization is also involved in consulting, implementation, support and training helping the state in its ambitious e-governance objectives. ELCOT is the implementing agency for the prestigious Tamil Nadu State Wide Area Network Project (TN-SWAN) that is being set up at a cost of $40 million. It is also in the process of commissioning the state’s data center and disaster recovery center.

As a provider of IT procurement services to the Government of Tamil Nadu, ELCOT’s primary objective is to offer the best possible IT solutions at the lowest price in order to maximize the return on investment (RoI) on public money. Moreover being a public sector organization it has to make sure that the investment goes in the right direction. C. Umashankar, Managing Director, ELCOT said, “There was immense pressure on us when we decided to move from Microsoft Windows to SUSE Linux.” To perform this task effectively, ELCOT needed to take a leading role in the state’s IT strategy. The choice of whether to move to a new platform depends not only on immediate pricing considerations, but also on the potential long-term hardware, software and infrastructure costs.

Looking at the larger picture of continuing with Windows, ELCOT considered that it would be expensive on all fronts to do so. Umashankar said, “Cost was the major factor in moving from Windows to SUSE Linux. We had already invested in servers and OSs such as Windows Vista would have put an additional burden on our costs as we would have had to procure new servers. With SUSE Enterprise Linux we can protect the server investments that we have already made.”

Working with Novell, ELCOT decided to first migrate its own in-house IT systems to Linux, before attempting the larger and more ambitious rollout to the schools and government offices across Tamil Nadu State. “We had to be sure that the Linux solution would satisfy all the requirements,” said Umashankar.

“We decided to test it on our own internal systems and make an informed decision about whether it would be the right choice for the schools and other government offices,” he added. Security used to be a real concern, because ELCOT was aware of other e-government systems, which have collapsed because of malicious attacks. It was impressed with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. “With SUSE Desktop, we no longer have any worries about viruses,” said C. Umashankar.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop quickly won over users by providing a high-performance, intuitive working environment that was stable and secure. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is an attractive and user-friendly desktop environment. Umashankar said, “Even non-technical users can install and set-up the software and there aren’t any of the driver issues that you get with other varieties of Linux. We quickly became confident that user acceptance would not be a problem.” A minimal training program was rolled out to help users understand the concepts of using the software.

ELCOT rolled out SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to the school servers, which are now 100% Linux-based. The company then worked with teachers to design a preloaded set of applications, which could be delivered to the 30,000 new PCs, along with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. All the new PCs that the organization purchases for schools come preloaded with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. Umashankar said, “Novell has provided excellent support for training, helping us to apply a Tamil voice-over to their computer-based training software, and delivering dual-language instruction manuals. The training is intuitive, and we are confident that the new solution will be popular with both teachers and students.”

A low-cost, reliable platform

With open source software, Tamil Nadu’s schools have a low-cost, reliable infrastructure that promises to deliver savings in the years to come.

Umashankar said, “The open source software available on the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform is superb, and another big advantage of Linux is that you can experiment with different applications without making big investments. We soon designed a suite of applications, which will deliver all the functionality that the teachers will need. We also have a 28-seat software development wing supported by SUSE Linux Enterprise on the server and desktop, fully powered by open source tools.

“The stability of open source software such as SUSE Enterprise Linux is quite similar to that of the Unix platform. We see no issue of scalability with SUSE Enterprise Linux.”

This platform also protects ELCOT’s existing hardware investments, while alternative operating systems would have required more frequent hardware refreshes. According to ELCOT’s estimate moving to Linux has reduced its general hardware costs by nearly 25%. In the case of high-end servers, the savings could be as high as 80%. Umashankar said, “Even more important are the benefits for Tamil Nadu’s students. There is a growing trend towards the corporate adoption of Linux, both in India and elsewhere, so it will be a real advantage in the job market to have experience working with open source software. It gives us tremendous freedom and choice.”

mohammed.shariff@expressindia.com