FEATURES AND COMMENTARY
Manila, Philippines — Melvin G Calimag reported for Metropolitan Computer Times: Linux is apparently starting to inch its way into the realm of enterprise computing in the Philippines as more large companies put their faith in open- source technology.
Q Linux, a six-month-old company engaged in the advocacy of Linux as an operating system, said that so far five local Internet service providers (ISPs) and a bank have migrated their operating platforms to Linux. Q Linux identified MZCOM, a new ISP, as one of their clients, but refused to name the others yet.
“We’re looking at the banking industry as the likely sector that would make full use of our services as a technical support team for Linux. We expect to generate around 36 million (pesos) worth of services in this area from now until early 2002,” said Dennis Santiago, sales and marketing manager of Q Linux.
With the Linux code distributed as a free OS, the company derives its main revenue from the training seminars it regularly conducts and the technical support services it provides for Linux users and supporters. After half a year of actively preaching open-source technology, Santiago admitted, however, that Q Linux has yet to fully match investments poured into promoting of Linux in the Philippines. “But we expect to experience profitability on our second year of operations,” he said.
In the meantime, however, the company is going full blast in marketing its other offerings, with the recent unveiling of office applications based on Linux last Jan. 10.
Rosshelle Clemente, corporate communications officer of Q Linux, said the company is involved both in open-source consulting and applications development. She says the firm offers a free quarterly system audit for clients.
Leading the pack is the locally developed Q Linux Desktop Application, a software suite that includes office applications such as word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation programs. Based on the popular Linux Red Hat, and Sun Microsystems’ Star Office, the package also comes with commercial games and a multi-media player application.
Another product that Q Linux is now aggressively marketing is another locally developed Linux-based corporate e-mail system called MailPost. MailPost can create up to 65,000 e-mail accounts and serves as a coordination tool since it is Web-based, as well as fax- and SMS-capable.
Server applications are also being made available to the market via the NAVIS Office Internet Server and VEGA Dotcom Server, according to Santiago. Geared for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the NAVIS Office Internet Server developed by Q Linux has an unlimited user license and can enable file and printer sharing, intranet Web and mail server, back-up office suites, telnet, and FTP services.
The VEGA Dotcom Server, on the other hand, is a targeted for medium to large businesses, including start-ups that need a robust server application for their operations. It has the following features: DNS, Internet mail and Web server, dial-up access, remote administration, firewall, and an unlimited user license as well.
Web site: http://www.q-linux.com
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