Avnet Hall-Mark Reduces Linux Load Time To Minutes
The Load'n'Run Linux tool takes the user through a series of prompts to set up a Linux partition on the server and install the Linux operating system, as well as Samba, an open-source file server, and Apache, an open-source Web and application server.
"The load can take about six minutes. When you're done customizing it, you can do proof of concept for customers to do print and file under Linux," said Roger Arndt, vice president of marketing for the IBM business unit at Avnet Hall-Mark. "We see this as a value add for the iSeries VAR to go out to end users and offer server consolidation."
The tool is part of Avnet Hall-Mark's push to get solution providers to sell more Linux on the IBM platform. The distributor previously launched its Linux Express training program to help partners deliver Linux-based solutions more quickly.
Load'n'Run will be an effective sales tool to sell Linux to hesitant customers, said Lewis Hannaman, vice president of sales and marketing at Cherbonnier, Mayer & Associates, a Baton Rouge, La.-based solution provider.
"If a customer is not sure about Linux, it allows us to do proof of concept easily and not too expensively. It allows us to optimize their Web serving applications as well as print serving apps," Hannaman said.
In addition, the ability to partition iSeries servers for Linux saves the end user from buying extra servers, Hannaman said.
"We had three seminars [in June] to introduce the concept to customers of running Linux on iSeries. We think customers will like it," he said.
Avnet Hall-Mark's Linux business on the IBM platform has increased by a double-digit percentage this year compared with last year, said Fred Cuen, senior vice president and general manager of Avnet Hall-Mark's IBM business unit.
"We tell solution providers, if they haven't sold Linux into their account set in the last quarter, they've lost a server sale to a competitor. It may be to another IBM VAR, or another vendor, but they've lost business," he said. "Customers are embracing that technology. They don't need to separate themselves from that sale. It's not always an Intel sale. You want to capture if it's an Intel sale, but you also have a great solution with iSeries."