The Hindu Business Line : India emerging as Linux hub

THE emergence of Linux as the dominant software will help bridge the digital divide in the country and offer a huge opportunity for Indian software developers, experts have said.

"Our software developers will have a great opportunity in the area of embedded software, where Linux is emerging as the software platform of choice," said Mr Inder Singh, CEO of LynuxWorks Inc, here at the Linux Asia 2004 conference.

The conference, which the organisers claim is the first of its kind in Asia, focuses on use of Linux in enterprises, e-governance, education and society.

According to IBM officials, the company sees India as a hub for its Linux initiatives in the Asian region and will invest in research and development in the area.

Ms Mary Ann Fisher, Programme Director, Linux at IBM, said adoption of Linux in India was growing rapidly in the server space as well as in desktops. She said sectors such as government, finance and industry were taking to Linux in a big way.

Oracle India announced separately that seven of its new customers had recently chosen to run its technology and applications on Linux operating system. These customers include Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, South Asian Petrochem Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IDBI Bank, Central Bank of India and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

"2004 will be the year of Linux in India. We see the banking, government and education sectors leading the adoption of Linux to run mission critical applications," said Mr Shekhar Dasgupta, Managing Director of Oracle India, in a statement here.

According to Mr K. Raghuraman, General Manager, Central Bank of India, using Linux will help the bank effect 20-30 per cent savings on its total IT investments each year. "That will amount close to a total of $4 million in savings," he said.

IDC, an IT market research firm, projects that Linux will have a compounded annual growth rate of 18 per cent over the next four years in the Asia-Pacific region, from $5.04 million in 2003 to $9.74 million in 2007.

"This is evident from the large number of downloads of Oracle software on the Linux platform from our Oracle Technology Network," Mr Dasgupta said.