Target Linux Certifications
Linux Lab Manual Linux Certification has only recently become en vogue, but many VARs have been profiting from it for years. VARBusiness spoke with a dozen Linux VARs to find out how they were able to build a real business around the OS and where opportunities lie.
They target mostly SMBs, such as law firms, doctors' offices and insurance firms, pitching it as an alternative or replacement for Windows NT file, print and Web servers. Some Unix VARs say they're doing such good business with Linux that they're letting their traditional Unix sales drop off.
Linux Lab Manual Linux Certification is still enough of a mystery that a personal relationship with a customer is usually needed to close a deal. They have to know you" says Tom Koller, president of Altoplanos Information Systems Inc., a VAR and ISP in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. "You don't have Microsoft's ads selling it for you."
Koller says Linux is "made to order" for SMBs. Altoplanos installed a critical accounting app on Red Hat Linux, saving Runge Finance, a local loan company, $2,950 by not going with a commercial Unix variant. The hottest market for Linux Lab Manual Linux Certification may be at ISPs, which can't afford to have their Web servers go down. Several of the resellers VARBusiness spoke with also operate Internet services running on Linux. "As an ISP, you've got to have that stability you need Web services to be there 24/7. VARs are also ringing up Linux sales at universities, research labs and departments of Fortune 500 companies, where speedy number-crunching is a must. IT departments at big companies are giving Linux a serious look. Linux VAR Penguin has received several orders from in-house IT staffers who are ecstatic to be buying Linux machines. Although Linux Lab Manual Linux Certification has made huge strides in the past year, especially in the server market, it still has a long way to go to become a mainstream OS. Consultant Perry Piplani of Heights Open Systems, whose Houston-based business is 70 percent Linux, says he has outfitted two offices with Linux desktop systems. But he's still hard-pressed to recommend the OS as an office solution because of the shortage of applications. He's confident, however, that that will change once a major app vendor backs Linux. Torvalds concedes that "the desktop market is the hardest by far," but he predicts a number of applications will hit the market this year and will reach critical mass in three years. Desktop Linux will almost surely get a boost from Gnome, a Windows-style interface that Red Hat will include in its next release.
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