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DSC Tech Library
Linux Information
This section of our technical library presents information and documentation relating to the Linux operating system especially as it relates to the telecommunications and Linux CRM Software marketplace.
Since the Company's inception in 1978, DSC has specialized in the development of software productivity tools, call center applications, computer telephony integration software, and PC based phone systems. These products have been developed to run on a wide variety of computer systems and have been tested and operational on LINUX servers and systems. The following are articles and information regarding Linux and its applications in the telecom and business environments.
Linux and CRM: Contender or Pretender?
The following is an extract from the article "Linux and CRM: Contender or Pretender?" by Jason Compton from CRM Magazine:
"The Linux operating system has risen from Norwegian obscurity to the limelight in less than a decade. As 1999 drew to a close, Linux IPOs were beginning to look commonplace, hardware and software manufacturers alike were announcing serious support for the platform and the computing world was struggling to understand the phenomenon. Whether you embrace or dismiss the brainchild of Finnish codemaster Linus Torvalds, Linux has made an impact in the enterprise. According to a summer 1999 survey conducted by the MERIT Project, an initiative of software giant Computer Associates, some 49 percent of IT managers rated Linux as "important to essential" for their enterprise infrastructure in 2000. More importantly, over one-third of the respondents indicated that they planned to implement database management, application management and personal productivity solutions using Linux.
That's an important distinction for an operating system that has often been dismissed as purely a Web-server or thin-server play due to the extremely heavy penetration of Linux-based Apache Web systems in use at high-profile ISPs around the globe.
So with a sturdy number of IT professionals indicating that Linux will play a role beyond the niche of the Web server, the question is inevitable: Will Linux have an impact on customer relationship management? Or will it merely serve as a footnote or incidental role in the growing CRM space? Opinion is split.
"The closer to the infrastructure of the Internet [your CRM application] is, the more likely it will be to see Linux play a significant role," says George Weiss, vice president and research director for Gartner Group.
Because Linux at its core is essentially a variant of Unix, its CRM fortunes are largely dependent on attitudes toward Unix among CRM developers and adopters. Laurie Orlov, an analyst with Forrester Research, says, "On the server side, you'll see ports of CRM software to Linux once the numbers are there, and probably after you see ports to Solaris, HP-UX and IBM AIX," the older, more established Unix "flavors."
On the average computer store shelf, you can find as many as a half-dozen or more versions of Linux, and although they have the same technology at their core, some of the surrounding software layers are substantially different, enough to cause compatibility problems. "In terms of the way you install and set up systems, there's no single standard, so there may be differences when an application tries to access the operating system," observes Gartner's Weiss. Although many programs work perfectly well across all major editions of Linux, most major Linux application vendors team up with some or all of the "big four" Linux distributors (Red Hat, SuSE, Caldera and TurboLinux) in order to eliminate compatibility problems. How CRM vendors will deal with the compatibility issue remains to be seen.
To view the entire article, please visit www.destinationcrm.com.
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