We were selected as a finalist in the BCS & Computing UK IT Industry Awards 2010 - Project Excellence Section - for our thin client solution for third world education, for NoPC.
LinuxIT is growing by 100% per year, testimony to the appeal and
fit of our specialist offering with our target markets and how this is being delivered,
consistently.
The accelerating use and interest in Open-Source software (OSS) probably represents the most significant technology adoption process today. Technology that meets the needs of these difficult economic times when budgets are under pressure, and the desire to avoid the lock-in associated with proprietary software.
From the outset LinuxIT positioned itself to serve the Open-Source and Open-Standards marketplace. The specialist in its field, LinuxIT advocates Open-Standards in technology and the interoperability that flows from it.
We position ourselves as a Blended Systems Integrator™. We use our specialist skills, gained over 12 years in Open–Source and Open–Standards technology, together with best fit proprietary technology solutions to provide cost effective, reliable, secure and future proofed integrated IT systems. We support this with a tailored and comprehensive world class specialist service wrap that includes consultancy, resourcing, implementation, support and training.
Some see OSS and proprietary software as being in competition. We see it as a symbiotic relationship between the respective development models each benefiting the other as the advances secured through the ‘cathedral’ development approach adopted by proprietary software suppliers being picked up by the open-source community, using their ‘bazaar’ approach, and vice-versa. OSS comprises of enterprise and community versions, enterprise where you pay for a structured development process, and have the reassurance of indemnification and essential support. While the community options are free there is no guarantee relating to reliability, or the level of costs around adoption and ongoing support.
That’s where LinuxIT comes in as it is possible to embrace enterprise ready and community OSS solutions that are best fit for purpose, a blended solution that works seamlessly. The best of both worlds. It’s about best fit for purpose and user risk appetite – whilst keeping OSS centre stage.
Some see the adoption of OSS as an evangelical cause leading to a revolution, away from proprietary software. At LinuxIT we don’t see it as idealogical or evangelical, but based solely on sound management practices. In our experience it’s about pragmatic, informed, impartial, independent, consultancy. Consultancy that we base upon our unique, proven and powerful model that we use to build a clear picture of each client’s business model and aims.
We adopt a progressive approach to blended systems solutions for heterogeneous environments drawn from the finest enterprise ecosystem, community OSS and proprietary technologies available today. A proven roadmap to technology evolution.
Examples of our speciality include:
- Our appointment as Red Hat's first Premier Partner in the UK. Red Hat are global leaders in enterprise Linux technology.
- Our accreditation as a Novell Gold Partner and one of the first resellers appointed in the UK by the new SUSE division.
- Our success in growing our Red Hat enterprise open-source technology business to over £1m pa.
- The development of our unique Community Open-Source Indemnification Program. A world first it provides a certificated technology catalogue providing total reassurance around community based OSS solutions.
- Our establishment of a Partner Advantage our unique OSS service based channel programme engaging with the channel comprising system integrators, LARs, VARS and others.
- Our industry leading newspaper The Linux Advantage and its microsite sent to over 50,000 IT specialists every quarter
- Our unique POLOS model that provides an optimised route to OSS by evaluating the significance and risk dimensions around its adoption
- Our contribution to Linux certification across the UK and Ireland in managing the Linux Professional Institute over the past 4 years and the development of training programmes supporting enterprise Linux adoption and management.
- Our role in developing the BCS Open Source Specialist Group members quarterly newsletter.
- Our active membership of the Open Source Consortium, Intellect and SOCITM from a Open Source Open Standards perspective.
- Our work with the Govt Cabinet Office contributing to Govt OSS Policy and delivery.
The ITIL framework provides the backbone of our operations. Our processes follow the five phases of the ITIL Service Lifecycle: Strategy, design, transition, operation and continual improvement. And we strive to maintain all our business practices compliant with BS: EN: ISO9001:2008 for our business processes, and BS: ISO/IEC 20000-1:2011 for our service desk operation.
A Case Study based upon one of our specialist services.
The Client
Falmouth's Schools of Art and Design and Media and Performance offer some of the most innovative, entrepreneurial, collaborative and transformative learning experiences available in a specialist college of art. Falmouth is a member of both the Ukadia group of specialist arts and design institutions from across the UK's higher and further education sectors, and the Cornwall Skillset Media Academy network, a UK-wide group of institutions identified as centres of excellence in creative media education and training. University College Falmouth merged with Dartington College in 2008, heralding an exciting new era for arts education in the South West and paving the way for the development of a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall that is expected to be in place by 2012.
The Solution
The college's Learning Technology department were operating on a low-end minimal setup, with support coming from a single source within the department itself. They had two servers running Ubuntu Server; one web server and one database server. There was no monitoring or support for this setup outside of core college hours, 9am to 5pm.
But as University College Falmouth moved towards expanding its offering through the department of online distance and blended learning courses, as well as the wider integration with campus based courses it was important to create a service which was more resilient, scalable and reliable. In addition the college in-house IT team had undertaken a large scale virtualization project and the Learning Technology department were keen to take advantage of the hardware resilience flowing from this work.
In addition, the college had very few formal Linux skills within the Learning Technology department, and the college in-house IT team were unable to support them either. So it was vital that they found a long term solution.
The Benefits
Commenting on the selection of LinuxIT and the project overall Ben Bull, Senior Learning Technologist said "LinuxIT were by far the most helpful company we approached, offering a complete package of design, implementation and support. Since adopting LinuxIT Vitalsigns24 service support we've experienced much less downtime due to their constant monitoring, and personally, I can sleep better knowing that someone is keeping an eye on our operations 24X7. I can't praise the service we receive enough, it really is world class. Working with LinuxIT has been a great experience so far and has enabling us to provide a truly world class level of service to our students and staff. From the very start of the project right the way through to ongoing support, I have found LinuxIT to be professional, friendly and very, very knowledgeable. We will definitely continue to use LinuxIT in the future for all our Linux support."
Ends
