IN A MAINFRAME ENVIRONMENT, THE COST TO INCREASE CAPACITY A PLANNED 15% OR 20% "IS ENORMOUS. IT COULD BE IN THE TENS OF MILLIONS TO DO A STEP INCREASE. IN [PAYPAL'S] WORLD, WE ADD HUNDREDS OF SERVERS IN THE COURSE OF A COUPLE OF NIGHTS AND THE COST IS IN THE THOUSANDS, NOT MILLIONS.
LINUX IS THE BEST-ENGINEERED, MOST INTEROPERABLE PLATFORM FOR ENTERPRISE COMPUTING AND IS BECOMING THE CLEAR CHOICE FOR ORGANISATIONS.
![IN A MAINFRAME ENVIRONMENT, THE COST TO INCREASE CAPACITY A PLANNED 15% OR 20% "IS ENORMOUS. IT COULD BE IN THE TENS OF MILLIONS TO DO A STEP INCREASE. IN [PAYPAL'S] WORLD, WE ADD HUNDREDS OF SERVERS IN THE COURSE OF A COUPLE OF NIGHTS AND THE COST IS IN THE THOUSANDS, NOT MILLIONS.I CAN PERSONALLY SPEAK TO A REAL LIFE BUSINESS CASE FOR LINUX. ABOUT EIGHT YEARS AGO I WORKED ON A PROJECT THAT HAD INCREDIBLE DATA PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS. AT THAT TIME, THE ONLY DATABASE TECHNOLOGY THAT EXISTED IN THE MARKET PLACE THAT EVEN HAD THE POTENTIAL TO MEET OUR PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS WAS TERADATA. THEY GAVE US A QUOTE OF $34M FOR THE SOLUTION WHICH WAS COMPRISED OF PROPRIETARY HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE. BACK THEN, OUR ENTIRE IT BUDGET WAS LESS THEN $34M. SO WE BUILT OUR OWN SOLUTION WHICH RAN ON A CLUSTER OF SERVERS RUNNING RED HAT LINUX FOR $100K. THROW IN OUR LABOR AND OTHER FEES AND WE SPENT CLOSE TO $1M. WHAT IS MORE AMAZING IS THAT WE DID NOT ADD A SINGLE EMPLOYEE TO THE STAFF TO RUN THE SYSTEM SINCE THE SYSTEM IS SELF MONITORING AND SELF HEALING. WITH THE TARADATA SOLUTION WE WOULD HAVE HAD TO ADD DBA RESOURCES. THIS SYSTEM IS STILL RUNNING TODAY AND PROVIDES SERVICES FOR A PRODUCT THAT GENERATES OVER $100M A YEAR. I ALSO STUMBLED ACROSS ANOTHER ARTICLE WHERE IT SHOPS ARE](HTTP://BP0.BLOGGER.COM/_0OE0MDUG0NE/R05A_YEJCFI/AAAAAAAAAME/V5AMOHFA_NC/S1600-H/GRID.GIF){kind=link}
