ASPCA Adopts The Penguin

IBM is showing no signs of pulling away from Linux
support, despite a lawsuit
SCO Group filed against it over core code in the
open source operating system.

Big Blue on Thursday said the American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) has deployed a new email system running on
Linux.

IBM said the new mobile e-mail system is running on its eServer xSeries
in order to help ASPCA, the nation’s oldest humane organization, deploy a
secure enterprise class messaging infrastructure that lets its employees
access e-mail and data from inside or outside the society’s network.

The goal of the new system, which replaces one put in place by
Hewlett-Packard, is to help veterinarians and field workers respond more
quickly in their mission to assist animals in need of care.

Like many nonprofit organizations, the ASPCA has a tight budget, which
officials said helped spur the decision to deploy Linux
and cut licensing fees and maintenance costs from the society’s IT budget.

“The combination of cost-savings, security and flexibility that the IBM
solution offered us gives our employees the information that they need
without sacrificing performance or stability,” said John Giantelli, ASPCA
Director of Information Technology, in a statement. “With Linux we are able
to reduce costs, cut down on calls to the help desk and have the
opportunity
to scale our systems in the future.”

IBM said the new ASPCA system uses its Lotus notes collaboration
program,
and its WebSphere Edge Server as a Reverse Proxy in order to enhance
security, while lowering total cost of ownership on the operating system,
as
well as messaging and collaboration infrastrcutrue.