''India is a prime country for Linux adoption''

Worldwide chief for Linux at IBM, Jim Stalling believes partners will be key
growth drivers for Linux adoption in India, and outlines a range of things that
IBM has put in place to empower them. In an exclusive interview given to DQ
Channels India, Jim shares how India can shine on the Linux landscape. Excerpts:

How is IBM getting its channel excited about Linux in a similar manner
that the company itself is?

We offer a number of Linux programs, incentives and value propositions to
both excite and enable our partners. Most of our enabling programs can be
accessed from our web site at www.ibm.com/partnerworld/linux

It includes items such as: the first six steps for getting started with Linux
and IBM; links to all major brand information; market opportunity information;
white papers on where the market is going and education roadmaps that lead to
industry standard Linux certification (Red Hat, LPI etc).

We also have a number of programs available for partners who are ready to go
to market. These include our 'Leaders for Linux' program and our NT
Migration program. These programs offer co-marketing funds for demand generation
programs, inclusion in our various events, linkage to our sales teams and
special education offers. Details of these programs are available on our web
site as well.

A majority of partners sell Microsoft-based solutions as well and they are
pretty loyal to these. How can IBM make them change their loyalties to Open
Source?

It is not a matter of asking them to change (loyalties) but to add Linux to
their skill set. This way they can offer their customer choice and the partner
can take advantage of the growing Linux market (35% per year) which is growing
faster then any other server OS. Over time, a number of partners will gravitate
to focusing purely on Linux or sell the majority of their solutions on this OS.
We have seen this take place in other countries and believe it would take place
in India as well.

What is IBM's approach with regards to evangelizing Linux among its
partner community? Is it more on a fundamental level (free vs proprietary logic)
or is it more at a level where it can offer improved earnings to its partners?

It is a number of different things. The partner can earn money by selling
servers, software and services with their Linux solution. They can also help
their customers take cost out of their business by consolidating workloads,
reduce infrastructure costs and offer their customers choice and support across
all major platforms (xSeries to the mainframe).

Additionally, as I talk to business partners who are successful in the Linux
marketplace I keep hearing how their customers are experiencing greater
reliability and security with Linux over Microsoft. This helps build loyalty
between the partner and their customer as their recommended solution improves
the latter's overall productivity.

What are the few parameters which your partners need to evaluate before
they can actually take a plunge for selling Linux solutions?

As in any new aspect of business they need to assess their ROI on investing
in the skills and how quickly they will see a return. We have an ROI tool
available for partners to use, so they can make an informed business decision.
It is available on our web site.

They also need to carefully understand their customer base and find out how
many of them are currently running Linux and are looking to expand. If they don't
support these customers another partner will. Also they need to assess as to how
fast is their business growing and that by adding Linux can they increase their
growth rate or not.

Is IBM looking at bringing Linux to the desktop as well? How and when is
that truly going to happen?

Yes, we are. We are supporting a desktop strategy through services
assessment for customers and a new offering around our IBM client strategy. This
allows customers a true on-demand client that gives them the ability to work
offline on all major applications but use the server as the central focal point
for the apps.

GOLDIE