Translated material
Russian Post will use both Windows and Linux
Recently concluded by "Russian Post", the Agreement with the American Corporation Microsoft does not close the Linux operating systems to "mail". Proprietary and free solutions in it will be used together, reportsCNews.ru .
By signing an agreement on Support Supply with Microsoft Corporation, the Russian Post will not abandon the idea of introducing open decisions. As the publication managed to find out, the development of the IT complex of the Russian Post will follow the path of heterogeneous architecture: it will be used both open solutions on Linux and the proprietary programs of Microsoft.
Testing free software FSUE "Post of Russia" began in April 2008 - shortly after the visit of the president and CEO Linux developer Red Hat Jim Whitehert to Russia. The tests that took place in the city of Pushkin near St. Petersburg had to study the possibility of applying free software in the IT infrastructure of the FSUE, including in communication departments, which, as part of the postal department, have more than 40 thousand.
However, at the end of September 2008, it became known about the signing of the Russian Post Agreement on Supply with the domestic representation of the American Corporation Microsoft - Microsoft Rus, and this news caused the disappointment of the domestic Open Source community.
Meanwhile, as it turned out, the postal department for community is by no means lost. “These two agreements do not kill each other,” said Tagir Yapparov, the head of the Aita integrator actively participating in the Russian Post program for testing SP. “Having such a large infrastructure“ Post ”will use various technologies based on Linux and MS Windows.”
From the very beginning of testing in Pushkin, to this day, the Russian Post has not been very willing to share the details of her plans for the introduction of SPO. However, in the spring, in a conversation with CNews, a similar thought was already expressed by the acting Deputy General Director of Russian Post Alexei Kuzmin, who oversaw the IT of the FSUE. Then, as the simplest illustration of the heterogeneous system, he brought an PC with Open Office installed on top of Windows.
As CNews Tagir Yapparov explained, the use of Microsoft products in the Russian Post is also due to the technical need: part of the specialized postal equipment works on proprietary drivers, the development of analogues of which would be difficult for Linux.
Whether for the "Russian Post" the proprietality of drivers will be the decisive factor in the choice of software solutions is unknown. Apparently, it is too early to say about the possible areas for the use of Linux and Windows in the "Russian Post": "They are now in the stage of studying their IT architecture," Yapparov answered the question of CNews.
Although the tests in Pushkin are completed, the introduction of the sport has not yet begun. Apparently, when the IT architecture will be worked out, the future Linux introduct of Linux in the "Russian Post" will become detected on a competitive basis. If they turn out to be a group of IT ATI, then, with a high probability, the main Linux distributions used by Russian mail will be Red Hat development, whose supplier will be the Austrian distributor of VDEL.