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<font face="sans-serif" size="+1"><b><span class="fh">PeopleSoft to Support Linux
with EnterpriseOne</span></b></font>
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<font face="'times new roman', times, serif"><b><span class="fby">by Alex
Woodie</span></b></font>
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<font face="'times new roman', times, serif"><a target="new"
href="http://www.peoplesoft.com">PeopleSoft</a> has announced plans to support the Linux operating
system with its EnterpriseOne ERP suite. When EnterpriseOne version 8.1 ships during the second quarter,
several modules of the former J.D. Edwards suite, such as supply chain management and financial
management, will run on <a target="new" href="http://www.intel.com">Intel</a> X86-based servers using
the <a target="new" href="http://www.redhat.com">Red Hat</a> Enterprise Linux 3 operating system and
work with Linux-enabled versions of <a target="new" href="http://www.ibm.com">IBM</a>'s Web
application server and database software.</font>
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<font face="'times new roman', times, serif">This isn't the first time that PeopleSoft has
made a commitment to Linux. Last spring, the Pleasanton, California, software company announced an
alliance with IBM to support WebSphere Application Server, DB2, and the xSeries as its Linux
environment of choice for its PeopleSoft Enterprise ERP suite (formerly known as PeopleSoft 8), which at
that time was its only ERP line. Today, the company has 170 Linux-enabled Enterprise
applications.</font>
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<font face="'times new roman', times, serif">JDE made a similar commitment with Big
Blue in June 2002, to support its OneWorld ERP software (now known as EnterpriseOne after the
PeopleSoft acquisition) on the IBM stack. Unlike PeopleSoft, <a target="new"
href="http://www.oracle.com">Oracle</a>, and other enterprise software makers, JDE chose to lead with
<a target="new" href="http://www.suse.com">SuSE</a> Linux (since acquired by <a target="new"
href="http://www.novell.com">Novell</a>), instead of Red Hat Linux. With its acquisition of JDE last
year, it was only a matter of time before PeopleSoft aligned JDE's Linux strategy with its own.</font>
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<font face="'times new roman', times, serif">PeopleSoft cites Linux as being stable and
secure, and says customers will benefit by the greater number of platform deployment options and by the
reduced costs of Lintel iron, particularly compared to RISC/Unix. EnterpriseOne currently supports Unix,
Windows, and OS/400 operating systems. When EnterpriseOne version 8.1 ships, the software will gain the
capability to run on Intel X86-based servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux. A PeopleSoft spokesman
said that while the company won't support IBM's Power architecture running Linux right off the bat, it is
listening to customer requirements in this regard. In terms of database support, EnterpriseOne will support
DB2 UDB; support for the Linux version of Oracle's database will be delivered later this year, the
spokesman said. PeopleSoft has not announced any intentions to support other Linux distributions, such as
Novell's SuSE Linux distribution.</font>
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<font face="'times new roman', times, serif">On the iSeries front, support for Linux on
Power servers could manifest itself in a few different ways. For one, some customers who might otherwise
choose an OS/400 server could opt for a Linux-based solution running DB2 or Oracle. This seems unlikely.
But a hybrid PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne setup with the database residing on a large OS/400 partition with
application servers running on Linux partitions on the iSeries. The reason this might happen is economics,
the same thing that had driven many OS/400 shops to adopt a hybrid OS/400-Windows approach with their
OneWorld suites before the PeopleSoft acquisition of JDE. You see, it costs $30,000 to activate a processor
on a big iSeries box and another $30,000 to activate OS/400 Enterprise Edition for that processor. But if
you want to run Linux, you only have to activate that processor and then pay Red Hat or SuSE a couple of
grand for a Linux license on the iSeries. The economics play heavily in favor of hybrid OS/400-Linux
clusters on a single iSeries server.</font>
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<font face="'times new roman', times, serif">PeopleSoft, the second largest enterprise
software provider behind <a target="new" href="http://www.sap.com">SAP</a>, is positioning itself on
the fastest growing operating system. The company cited several Linux statistics, including a <a
target="new" href="http://www.metagroup.com">META Group</a> prediction that Linux will grow its
current enterprise server market share from less than 10 percent to approximately 30 percent by 2007. The
company also trotted out an <a target="new" href="http://www.idc.com">IDC</a> projection that Linux
server shipments will have a compounded annual growth rate of more than 28 percent through 2007.
PeopleSoft also cited a SG Cowen survey of more than 500 IT users in North America December 2003 that
found Linux was in use at nearly 80 percent of the users' sites, with 72 percent of the Linux installations on
servers, and 15 percent on desktops.</font>
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<font face="'times new roman', times, serif">The following PeopleSoft EnterpriseOne
version 8.1 application will support Red Hat Linux: Human Capital Management; Supply Chain
Management; Supplier Relationship Management; Financial Management; Asset Lifecycle Management;
and Project Management.</font>
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