SAP on Linux,they can run any application on it

The most important question that a CIO needs to ask himself is what does he want to do with the open source? If he wants to have integrated stack then his best bet would be to go with Red Hat. If he wants to have more open stack and wants to ensure maximization of existing infrastructure, and at the same time, integrate the rest of the stack with open source, then SUSE is a better option.

“We have had multiple situations with respect to security breaches in the last couple of years, albeit all the open source companies worked together to address the instances. As the source code is freely available even if something goes wrong, SUSE work closely with open source software vendors to mitigate the risk”, Ronald de Jong, President of -Sales, SUSE said in an interview with ET CIO.

Edited Excerpts:

SUSE has been growing at 50% Y-o-Y in India. What is driving this growth for you?

Yes, we have been growing at this rate since the last three years in India. In terms of revenue, India is the second largest country in APJ behind only China. India is very important in our worldwide go-to-market strategy. One of the reasons for our impressive growth is the presence of a large team. We also work extensively with architects, consultants, and SIs. Enterprises in India are increasingly adopting OpenStack as the number of developers and large enterprises that are part of the upstream OpenStack project is enormous. This means that if there is any technical or integration issue with OpenStack, the time taken to resolve it is minimal. The ecosystem around OpenStack, including the number of customers, continues to grow. While there has been an enormous comparison with proprietary solutions, I probably don’t have to explain how a large and growing customer base can help improve OpenStack owing to its valuable feedback.

CIOs today are leveraging next-gen technologies such as AI, ML, and analytics. What is the significance of open source software and tools in these areas?

There are lots of enterprises that are evaluating these cutting edge technologies. Companies have also created project groups internally to develop strategies on these technologies. However, the reality is that there are very few corporates that are actually implementing them. This is not to say that open source vendors are not geared up to meet this opportunity. There is a large number of open source companies that are targeting these areas. If the adoption of such technologies increases, there are hundreds of open source companies out there waiting to ride the wave. At SUSE, we are helping customers through our products such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for high performance computing, OpenStack, SUSE Enterprise Storage powered by Ceph Technology for software-defined infrastructure, to address their challenges faced by the rise of such new technologies.

How apt is open source in tackling information security breaches?

We have had multiple situations with respect to security breaches in the last couple of years, albeit all the open source companies worked together to address the instances. As the source code is freely available even if something goes wrong, SUSE work closely with open source software vendors, hardware vendors, and application vendors to accelerate the time taken to find the root cause and mitigate the risk. All this is more difficult in closed software because there is IP index associated with it.

There are so many open source software vendors in the market today. What should a CIO consider before going in for an open source software solutions?

The most important question that a CIO needs to ask himself is what does he want to do with the open source? If he wants to have integrated stack then his best bet would be to go with Red Hat. If he wants to have more open stack and wants to ensure maximization of existing infrastructure, and at the same time, integrate the rest of the stack with open source, then SUSE is a better option. So, deciding to go with a specific vendor would depend on the requirement of the enterprise.

How do you look at the future of open source in India?

India is one of the biggest adopters of SAP’s ERP. However, by the year 2025 there won’t be any support for the existing ERP Central Component.

All the customers will then have to migrate to S4/HANA, which runs only on Linux. The fact that SAP which is one of the biggest enterprise software companies believes that running Linux is the best choice will certainly boost the adoption of open source software in the coming years. In the last couple of years, the conversation with large enterprises has also undergone a change. During my interactions with CIOs, my question to them is ‘what is your enterprise’s most important application’? In most cases the answer is SAP. I then tell them if they can run SAP on open source, they can run any application on it. More and more applications are being made available only on open source, which helps us in convincing CEOs why they need to start looking at it. The future bodes well for open source in India and globally.

Source:

https://cio.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/strategy-and-management/if-companies-can-run-sap-on-linux-they-can-run-any-application-on-it-ronald-de-jong/67940749

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