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RUNNING AN ENTERPRISE ON LINUX From PeopleSoft to OpenMFG and beyond, ERP software is moving on to Linux. |
 by Nancy Cohen May 19, 2003 |
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| Everybody’s heard the “yes,
but” Linux story: Linux is gaining traction as an operating system of choice for high-performance computing and web
serving, but is still in dormant stages for enterprise software applications. This month, the story became “no,
that’s nonsense” with PeopleSoft’s May 6 announcement that it too is jumping on the Linux bandwagon.
The extent of that jump is quite broad. PeopleSoft is moving all 170 of its business applications on to the Linux operating system. The new options will debut in the fourth quarter of this year, running on a platform that includes Red Hat Linux, along with IBM’s xSeries hardware, DB2, and WebSphere Application Server. |
 PeopleSoft has a talent for
reinventing itself as needed according to business change. Once compartmentalized as ERP vendors, PeopleSoft takes
on a broader identity, and promotes its competency as providers of enterprise application software. That Linux
evangelists see the May announcement as a significant step forward, pushing Linux in the mainstream, is
understandable: PeopleSoft makes programs that manage large businesses’ HR, customer relationships, supply chains,
and more. Its promotional material says that over 5,100 organizations in 140 countries are running PeopleSoft
software.
This week, Open talks to PeopleSoft’s David Sayed, Technology Product Marketing Manager, for further details on what led the company to adopt such an aggressive Linux move. Was there a time when, if anyone told you that your CEO would be standing before an audience and referring to Microsoft’s death grip and calling .NET toxic, you would have said, no, you’re crazy? SAYED: In this business, you never want to say that anybody’s crazy; that is what makes it interesting. For the past couple of years, actually, we were starting to see more and more interest in Linux, and that interest has been matched with the maturity of the Linux operating system. In corporate America, actually everywhere at this point, people have gained comfort with Linux. We’ve read that the Linux distribution to which you will port the applications will be Red Hat Linux. Why did PeopleSoft choose Red Hat? SAYED: We’re initially supporting Red Hat because that’s where we see customer demand, but we would not rule out any other in the future. Customer demand is what directs us overall. We want our customers to dictate the technology. Your CEO makes it quite clear that PeopleSoft is not in favor of dependency on Microsoft software. What is PeopleSoft? Sun-centric? HP-centric? IBM-centric? SAYED: Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Microsoft, any. The reality is that today’s IT environments are very heterogeneous. If we were to standardize on one platform, it would be a problem. In our marketing materials, and in the way we interact with our customers, we show that we work with different platforms. Your CTO has been quoted saying several Wall Street banks were among the customers that persuaded PeopleSoft to release the Linux versions. How confident is PeopleSoft that other industries are as ready for Linux as are the banks on Wall Street? SAYED: It’s not just Wall Street. Well-known companies in other sectors such as retail, high technology, and manufacturing tell us they are moving to a Linux-based infrastructure, not just financial. What’s your assessment of the significance of PeopleSoft's move toward the adoption of Linux? Is it a ‘first’ of any sort in the software industry? SAYED: Yes. It is a first. We are moving
all of PeopleSoft’s applications, not just a certain subset of applications, to Linux. It represents a broad
commitment to Linux on the part of an enterprise software vendor. It goes a long way to make the statement that
Linux is ready for enterprise applications, rather than only edge-type projects. |
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