The companies will port PeopleSoft’s integration, customer relationship management (CRM) suite, enterprise resource planning, performance and management software, and supply chain management applications to Red Hat Inc Linux beginning in the fourth quarter.
PeopleSoft will also recommend that its applications are developed and run on IBM’s xSeries eServer, DB2 database and WebSphere Application Server. The deal was announced at PeopleSoft’s Leadership Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.
PeopleSoft is the latest in a growing list of enterprise software vendors moving their applications to Linux, following competitors such as SAP AG, JD Edwards and Oracle Corp.
While these vendors have released only certain applications to Linux, PeopleSoft is the first to announce its entire suite would be ported. The company will continue its support for other platforms but said its decision to adopt Linux is designed to provide customers increased choice.
PeopleSoft and IBM believe they can meet demand for the operating system in mission-critical areas of software deployment. Linux has established a toehold in business based on its cost-saving properties on general-purpose servers such as file and print, web and security.
Adam Jollins, IBM worldwide Linux strategy manager, said: Customers like what we have been doing with Linux on the edge of the network, but they also want to get that reliability and cost ownership in their business applications.
David Fayed, PeopleSoft technology product marketing manager, said: Retail, financial services and high tech customers are moving to Linux as part of their IT infrastructure. For those people, PeopleSoft applications play a key role in their business.
But one industry analyst said that Linux was likely to be just one factor among many in a company’s purchasing decision. Customers will weigh their choice of CRM or financials based on features and whether they already use from vendors such as SAP.
Linux is just a tick in the box for some people, he said.
It is not year clear which other Linux distributions PeopleSoft will port applications to however, Jollins said Red Hat was selected as a first choice because of its strength in the US market.
Source: Computerwire
