Linux for the People(Soft)

IBM and PeopleSoft last week announced a partnership that could interest IT executives who are on the fence about Linux due to a perceived lack of enterprise applications for the operating system.

Under the agreement, IBM will port PeopleSoft’s ERP applications to Intel-based Linux servers built by IBM. Specifically, the Linux PeopleSoft servers will run on IBM’s eServer xSeries (single- and dual-CPU Intel boxes) and will be made compatible with IBM’s DB2 Universal Database and WebSphere Application Server platforms for Linux. 

The entire PeopleSoft suite of ERP applications will be ported to Linux, with availability in the fourth quarter of this year. PeopleSoft applications include:

*AppConnect.

*CRM.

*Enterprise Performance Management.

*Enterprise Service Automation.

*Financial Management Solutions.

*Human Capital Management.

*Supplier Relationship Management and Manufacturing.

PeopleSoft is not the first large ERP vendor to make the Linux leap, as competitors SAP and JD Edwards have emerged with Linux offerings of their business software suites over the last few years. But a Linux version of PeopleSoft could help some PeopleSoft shops cut costs on server licensing or help them migrate from proprietary server architecture to lower-cost “Lintel” boxes. It’s also not a bad feather in the cap for Linux community as a whole.