The Linux operating system, which the financial services industry has embraced as a way to cut costs in high-powered analytic computers and servers, is also starting to get some use at teller stations and on desktop systems at financial companies.
At the Linux on Wall Street conference in New York last week, several vendors said they plan to use the operating system in these high-volume markets. Retail and investment banks are interested, the vendors said, and some are even opening up their wallets.
But some observers said that though Linux may be a good fit for tellers’ undemanding tasks, it is less likely to crack the desktop market, which Microsoft Corp. dominates.
Sam Greenblatt, the chief architect for Computer Associates International Inc.’s Linux technology group, said that under a recently signed deal it is helping a global bank set up 65,000 Linux-based teller stations in branches around the world. The project should be complete within three years, he said.
“We are seeing lots of activity” from banks that are interested in using Linux for teller applications, said Mr. Greenblatt, a senior vice president.
Joyce Sciarrillo, the worldwide program director for Linux sales in International Business Machines Corp.’s financial services sector, said IBM has delivered Linux-based teller systems to a handful of banks. Banca Popolare di Milano, a 700-branch Italian bank, is going live with such a system this month, she said.
Other global banks, including big ones in the United States and Canadian, are evaluating the technology, Ms. Sciarrillo said. “By yearend several other customers will probably announce their plans for using Linux in the branch environment,” she said.
Larry Tabb, the founder of Tabb Group, a Westborough, Mass., market research firm, said teller stations are a good place to use low-cost Linux technology. Though an office worker may need a desktop computer to run a suite of office productivity applications, he said, many banks do not even want tellers “to have things like Excel or Word or PowerPoint.”
“A dedicated-terminal environment like a branch teller is one of the areas where Linux may go over well,” Mr. Tabb said.
Mr. Greenblatt estimated that only 20% of the world’s workers using desktop computers actually need all that processing power. “That’s what is going to drive Linux adoption.”
Mr. Tabb was less optimistic about Linux’s chances in the desktop market. Microsoft’s products are used everywhere and generally work well, he said. Still, Linux may get some use in new desktop installations, Mr. Tabb said.
IBM, Computer Associates, and Novell Inc. were among the venders at the conference that touted their Linux desktop applications.
Novell is “committed to delivering a Linux desktop system,” said Harold Moore, a technical specialist at the Waltham, Mass., company.
Greg Kelleher, a senior program manager for IBM, said that Linux could be the next big revolution in the computing market, and that several banks are considering it. “Linux on the desktop is ready for deployment,” he said. “Our vision is that this is what is coming next.”
Mr. Greenblatt said that several major industries, including financial services, will soon look at Linux for desktops as a way to cut costs without sacrificing performance. That could be a major blow to Microsoft’s growth prospects in the coming years, he said.
“People are absolutely moving to” Linux, Mr. Greenblatt said.
