Linux gaining steam in China
By Li Weitao (Business Weekly)
Updated: 2004-07-27 15:15

"Linux is ready for prime time," said Derek Williams, executive vice-president of Oracle Asia-Pacific.

He made the remarks last week during the Oracle OpenWorld Shanghai 2004, a global conference held by Oracle Corp, which is the world's second-largest software maker.

Broad government endorsement and economic imperative for customers are spurring the adoption of Linux in the region, Williams said.

Linux, compared with proprietary software such as Microsoft's Windows and Unix operating systems, opens its source code to other developers and is believed to be more transparent and safe.

Oracle's president, Charles Phillips, told the conference, "China is a major driver of Linux."

"Strong government support in China and across Asia-Pacific (for Linux) is fantastic, and we expect to see more of it.

"We don't need a huge, general-purpose operating system that adds overhead to what we're trying to do. We need something thin, fast, efficient and inexpensive -- essentially almost a device driver. Linux is perfect for that."

The Chinese Government has been promoting Linux as an alternative to the Windows platform in a bid to reduce its reliance on Windows, cut costs and increase security.

The governments of China, South Korea and Japan last week announced the establishment of an open-source software (OSS) alliance, which they expect will help the private sector in their nations develop Linux.

Oracle, one of the strongest proponents of Linux, is well-placed to capitalize on the opportunities resulting from a Linux up-take in Asia-Pacific and China, Williams said.

Oracle last week announced it had elevated Asianux, a regional version of the Linux server operating system, into its Unbreakable Linux support programme to accelerate the adoption of Linux in Asia-Pacific.

"This is really, we think, a threshold point in the development of the industry," Phillips said.

Asianux was jointly developed, at Oracle's China Development Centre in Beijing, by two of Asia's largest Linux distributors -- China's Red Flag Software Co and Japan's Miracle Linux Corp.

Oracle holds a 58.5-per-cent stake in Miracle Linux.

Major industry players -- including AMD, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Langchao, NEC and Sun Microsystems -- are committed to supporting the adoption of Asianux as a Linux standard for Asia, Oracle said.

Oracle will provide Asianux users with global, around-the-clock support for the software, endorsing Asianux's distribution as a certified version of Linux.

In addition to Asianux, Oracle's Unbreakable Linux partners include Red Hat and SuSE.

With support from Oracle and other major infrastructure vendors, "customers can choose from a greater number of software and hardware solutions to run enterprise Linux in Asia," said Takeshi Sato, president of Miracle Linux.

"We believe Asianux will soon be the Linux platform of choice for enterprises in China, Japan and, in the future, the rest of Asia," said Chris Zhao, acting president of Red Flag.

Although Linux is gaining increasing traction in Asia, various versions of Linux have been complicating the platform's adoption.

The Chinese Government has been pushing for a national standard on open-source software. Focusing on a single version is expected to boost the popularity of Linux.

The increasing adoption of Linux in China is unleashing big business opportunities for Oracle.

Citing Beijing-based CCID Consulting, Phillips said China's Linux servers software market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 49.3 per cent over the next five years.

About one-third of Oracle's enterprise software sold in China run on Linux, indicate media reports. One year ago, the figure was less than 5 per cent.

Linux is boosting Oracle's business in China, and helping the firm stake out a larger share of China's galloping business software market, said Loke Soon Choo, regional managing director in charge of Oracle's greater China operations.

Oracle is the world's largest enterprise software maker.

China's business software market is expected to grow to US$400 million by 2007, compared with US$86 million in 2002.

Loke expects China will become Oracle's No 2 market in Asia-Pacific this year.

Currently, China is Oracle's No 3 revenue contributor, behind Japan and South Korea.

In March, Oracle signed an exclusive deal with computer giant Dell to tack Linux-based Oracle software onto Dell's computer servers.

The deal will last until the end of this year.

Oracle is negotiating with potential partners, Loke said.

He did not elaborate.

Close