Business Impacts of Ubuntu and Desktop Virtualization

Business Impacts of Ubuntu and Desktop Virtualization

Ubuntu is an open-source, operating system (OS) that uses Linux Kernal. It is completely free, does not require any paid subscriptions, premium editions or any other paid component. There is very little maintenance cost and it is easy to run and maintain since it requires fewer updates and security patches as in the case of Microsoft. Ubuntu may be installed as the primary OS or as a secondary OS alongside of any other OS such as Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8. Furthermore, Ubuntu has a small foot-print and it can be installed on a CD or USB media and launched directly from it without making any system changes to the existing environment.

Ubuntu is rapidly increasing its popularity as a fair alternative to Microsoft Windows operating systems in terms of the capabilities. It can be downloaded to PC using a DVD created from the internet. I found Ubuntu easy to download, install, use and manage. It is simple to deploy and you can complete a typical installation of the standard services within 15 minutes. Also it does not include any additional extraneous applications that ultimately slow down the actual services that you want to run, making it fast and efficient. It also has its own programs and applications that are compatible with other popular software such as MS Office, Outlook, Messenger, etc. Ubuntu’s Libre Office provides a package of word processing, spreadsheet and presentation tools similar to the Microsoft Office applications that most of the computer users use.

Ubuntu in itself is a hard-to-hack distribution and frequent updates and upgrades ensure that any further security risks are also eliminated. With Ubuntu’s growing online community, free help is always available online from other users and developers.

The desktop is configurable and provides several options to users. Although by default it uses the Gnome desktop, which is the most popular among Linux users, you can also use the KDE desktop by installing the respective package. The KDE package is popularly referred to as Ubuntu.

At the moment, Ubuntu is one OS that can be considered a best bet for those struggling and thinking of moving away from Windows. Ubuntu’s popularity is a clear indication that users are beginning to accept Linux as a better OS for personal as well as corporate use. Its secure environment, user-friendliness, and above all its ease of installation make it the most favored OS among users.

Microsoft announced that its Windows XP OS is no longer supported and will be demised in April 2014. After the announcement, my company needed to upgrade about 500 desktops and laptops that had XP. Instead of upgrading to Windows 7 for $100 per license, we installed free Ubuntu Desktop OS on 150 laptops and desktops for critical users. Our employees worked in two shifts to support global operations and it was realized that only 50% of the desktops are used at any given time. To maximize the cost savings, we also decided to explore the Cloud Computing options. We installed Ubuntu Server 13.10 edition on 3 servers and created 350 virtual desktops, again with Ubuntu OS. Choosing free Ubuntu over Windows 7 ($100 / license for 500 computers) resulted in savings of $50,000. All of the employees now had had their own virtual desktops that they could access over the internet from any computer including their personal laptops. Maintaining only 3 Ubuntu servers that housed 350 virtual images of the desktops was much easier and cost effective as opposed to maintaining 500 individual computers. This was also a valuable added benefit for the Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning.

Four months after we implemented virtual images on Ubuntu desktops our city was hit by a severe hurricane season. During a recent major flood, most of the city was paralyzed and all businesses suffered immensely. With most of the roads inaccessible, businesses were forced to shut down for over a week. The company declared itself in Disaster Recovery mode and our server pool in the data center was transferred to the backup system. All three servers that housed the virtual images were also immediately available via online remote access. All of the employees were advised to connect to their virtual desktops remotely from their homes to support critical operations and clients.

After the flood water receded and the cost of damage was calculated, it was realized that during the 5 days shut down, our company would have suffered the damage of $58,000 per day totaling approximately $300,000. But since the business continued its normal operation in virtual desktop environment, we were able to avoid this cost.