US IT giant IBM has invested $1.5 million in Bucharest to establish a Linux Competency Centre within the Automation and Computer Science School of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. The centre will develop software applications and solutions to rival the similar Microsoft products.
Establishing such IBM centres in Eastern European countries is intended to encourage the governments and the major companies to migrate from Microsoft systems to Linux platforms. An open-source OS, Linux is now one of the main rivals for Windows not only on the server segment, but also on the desktop segment.
International Business Machines (IBM), which is running several such educational programmes together with Romanian ministries, has no intention of opening a factory or hardware productive line in Romania, whatsoever, as explained by Johann Weihen, CEO for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa for Ziarul Financiar.
"Romania is now providing very good software development opportunities. A factory is easy to move from one country to another, whereas quality is hard to get when it comes to software," he said.
One of the leading PC and server makers in the world and the second top player on the IT service market, as well as a major software developer, IBM invested the $1.5 million for the Linux Centre in Bucharest in computers and software applications, in network equipment provided by Cisco and in buying security systems. IBM will bear the computer network operating and maintenance costs and dispatch experts to teach the students how to operate the new systems.
The Linux Competency Centre will not be open to Automation students only, but also to software developers, and IBM's clients and partners in Romania. Besides application and solution development, this research centre intends to port various popular programmes now available only for Windows users to Linux. dan.dragomir@zf.ro
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