SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 for Government
Linux For Government: City, County, State & Federal
Around the world, governments at all levels are discovering the advantages of open source technology. They are starting to recognize its extraordinary potential in the age of always-on e-government.
This recognition is a critical turning point—one that reshapes how agencies and organizations choose to improve their services. And today, many such groups are rejecting rigid proprietary solutions. In fact, when performance, reliability and world-class support really matter, today's governments are turning to open source solutions, specifically SUSE® Linux Enterprise 10 from Novell.
Linux Government Advantage: Saving Money with SUSE Linux Enterprise
Perhaps the best reason for governments to switch to SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 is its incredible potential to reduce costs. Not only will SUSE Linux Enterprise run on cost-effective commodity hardware, but it's also easier and less expensive to support. And licensing open source software is far less expensive than buying and licensing proprietary software such as UNIX or Microsoft Windows. Jefferson County, Colorado, reports hardware cost savings of 50 percent and reduced administrative costs by 30 percent since moving to open source. For most government organizations, proprietary hardware support is the largest expense after labor. With open source, it's realistic to imagine opting for several US$4,000 industry-standard servers to run an enterprise instead of one proprietary server that costs US$100,000 or more.
On average, government agencies that have adopted open source solutions report 40–50 percent savings on hardware expenses, while software costs are being driven down by as much as 40 percent. According to a July 2005 study by the Robert Francis Group, Linux provides savings of 40 percent over UNIX and 34 percent over Microsoft. A Linux government solution just makes fiscal sense.
Linux Government Advantage: Relying on SUSE Linux Enterprise
SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 is the only enterprise-class Linux platform on the market today that meets your needs from the desktop to the data center. It's a solution you can rely on because it's been through months of regression testing—including test cases with applications like Oracle and SAP— and hardware tests on all the major architectures. Open source systems in general are more stable and reliable than proprietary operating systems. Indeed, studies and surveys show that LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) software packages, open source servers and open source databases are more resistant to crippling crashes than proprietary solutions. According to a comprehensive 2004 report, the top proprietary server could claim an average uptime of only 59 days, whereas open source servers reported hundreds—even thousands—of continuous days up. Jefferson County, Colorado, reports that some of its Linux servers have been running without a reboot for more than three years. Clearly such reliability leads to improved service delivery and significantly lower costs.
Furthermore, open source applications are proving themselves in a wide array of international deployments. In the Czech Republic, for example, the government relies on APOST, a customized system used by all 20,000 of its postal employees. To upgrade performance and reliability, Czech Post moved to the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system. The transition and rollout happened with zero downtime. And with the system up and running, APOST boasts nearly 100-percent uptime. And that's typical. An Enterprise Management Associates study from February 2006 showed that 89 percent of open source users reported 99.95-percent uptime. Only 2.5 percent reported less than 98 percent availability. A Linux government solution is as reliable as your constituents expect it to be.
Linux Government Advantage: Government Certifications
In February 2005, Novell announced that SUSE Linux Enterprise Server successfully completed Controlled Access Protection Profile under the Common Criteria for Information Security Evaluation, also referred to as CAPP/EAL4+. Government agencies can adopt SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with confidence, knowing that their mission-critical applications and command-and-control operations are backed by CAPP/ EAL4+ certification.
Products & Services
Novell Products
Try SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 for your government agency or department +
"Our move to Linux was not a decision against UNIX or Microsoft, but a decision for freedom. We wanted more competition because we know that results in lower prices and better services. And we also wanted more scalability, stability and security."