IBM brings 'Microsoft-free' PCs to Europe

by Matthew Broersma

March 7, 2008 —

In a move to challenge Microsoft
on the desktop, IBM has teamed
up with Austrian and Polish system integrators to supply the emerging Eastern
European and Russian business PC markets with "Microsoft-free" systems
based on Red Hat Linux and
open standards-based productivity software.

Under the deal, announced this week, IBM will work with Vienna-based VDEL
and LX Polska, based in Poland,
to sell systems based on what the companies call "Open Referent".
The systems will be based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Lotus Notes,
Lotus Sametime and Lotus Symphony.

IBM sold off its own PC arm to Lenovo
in 2005, and the company insisted it isn't getting back into the PC business.

Nevertheless, Open Referent taps into a growing demand for low-cost desktop
systems that aren't tied to Microsoft standards, and poses a direct challenge
to Microsoft.

IBM said it is responding to demand from large businesses and government agencies
in Eastern Europe and Russia, including Aeroflot, the Russian Ministry of Defence
and the RusHotel hotel chain, and said Open Referent could cut their costs in
half.

IBM emphasized that government agencies in particular are interested in open
standards, with many governments beginning to require formats such as ODF or
PDF for official documents.

"This is important because it's a secure and cost-effective Microsoft
desktop alternative," said Kevin Cavanaugh, IBM vice president for Lotus
Software, in a statement.

Lotus Notes will be provided for groupware, with Lotus Sametime for unified
communications. Lotus Symphony is based on OpenOffice.org
and uses the ISO-approved ODF family of open document formats.

The integrators are likely to use white-box PCs, with manufacturers varying
from country to country, according to IBM.

Large organizations in the U.K. have been slow to adopt open source on the
desktop, even more so than other Western European countries, according to open
formats advocacy group OpenForum
Europe. Its chief technology officer, Mike Banahan, once remarked that the
U.K. is a "third world country" compared with the rest of Europe where
it comes to public- and private-sector interest in open source.

OpenForum's research found that open source is blocked by many factors, including
the fact that companies are often highly uncomfortable with the available technical
support options.

Q Associates, a
U.K. IBM reseller, told Techworld it does significant business in Linux servers
but has seen minimal interest in open source desktops.

Desktop Linux integration isn't necessarily a straightforward process for a
large organization, despite any cost benefits. The City of Munich, for instance,
has spent several years tweaking a 14,000-desktop installation of Linux on the
desktop. The effort has involved developing new software such as the GOsa network
administration tool to assist in the management of the desktops.

Techworld.com