Fujitsu Siemens signs Linux support deal

Fujitsu Siemens has joined with Linux services company Linuxcare to provide technical support and help develop a range of Linux workstations and servers.

Linuxcare maintains and sells access to a technical support 'knowledge base' in the form of a searchable database. Barry Cochrane, general manager of Linuxcare UK, said Fujitsu Siemens resellers could be given access to this resource as part of the deal, or could resell it to their customers.

Tony Reilly, head of marketing at Fujitsu Siemens UK, stressed it is too early to say what the alliance will mean to the channel. "This is a company-wide initiative at a strategic level. We have not finalised how it will be rolled out to the reseller community."

Reilly said that while the vendor sees Linux as an area of future growth, it has not been a mainstay of its business. "We have not yet formally developed Linux partners. We're not at the stage of saying to customers, 'If you want Linux, go to these VARs'."

Fujitsu Siemens will let resellers decide if they want to take advantage of Linuxcare or develop their own services, said Reilly.

Chris Martin, an analyst at Xephon, said support has been a concern but customer confidence was growing, particularly because of IBM's investment in Linux. "This is another big player in the server market putting its weight behind Linux. With hardware vendor support will come more applications, and then the whole thing will snowball," he said.

Cochrane said Linuxcare, which provides most of its technical support via email, also offers professional services and training. "We train companies to become trainers themselves. The first company to have done this with us is Unipalm, which can now offer training courses [working] towards certification by the Linux Professional Institute," he said.

By maintaining a record of customers' systems, Linuxcare can advise companies how patches and updates will affect them, said Cochrane. The Linuxcare knowledge database is being put online in London's Docklands, where it will mirror the US system.

See also:

Fujitsu doubles up on Linux support

Different flavours for different Fujitsu ventures  20 May 2003

Turbolinux and Linuxcare in merger talks

Linux-based systems supplier Turbolinux is in talks to acquire services company Linuxcare and an announcement is expected within the next two weeks.  13 Jan 2001

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