It ’s little things like the small silver Apple logo on CIO Dale Frantz ’s nipping white shirt that signal the sea alteration in the works at Auto Warehousing Co. Over the next 60 day , AWC will begin consistently force the sparking plug on all Windows - based PCs in its cavernous auto processing shop and power up Macs to execute about all of its revenue - generating operations . The move comes on the heels of a quiet wholesale replacement of Windows - based servers for data storage and Web operations , which are now run away on Apple ’s Xserve RAID auto .
“ This is not a payback guinea pig , ” Frantz says , referring to his 2006 tangle with Microsoft over threatening letter from the vendor that made false accusation about unlicensed software .
or else , AWC ’s new strategic endeavor technology plan is the direct consequence of proof - of - conception testing that designate that the ship’s company can cut toll , increase system reliability and security measures , and provide expanded IT support services by porting a major component of its IT base to Apple . Extricating itself from its exclusive addiction on Microsoft is only the cherry on top .
For Apple , which go down to comment for this story , the move represent a plume in its endeavour computing cap . It also gives the seller a toe in the door of the Microsoft - heavy automotive industry . AWC is the largest full - serve machine processing party in North America , with 23 website across the U.S. and Canada .
“ As a mainstream , big platform , we have n’t seen a lot [ of Apple ] in self-propelling , ” says Gartner analyst Michael Silver . “ Apple is still very niche - y. Its niches are in the media institution and the scientific communities . ”
AWC ’s design , to be announce at a July 29 managers meeting , calls for the retention of some Microsoft applied science . AWC ’s chief client / host software , VIPS ( Vehicle Inventory Processing System ) , will stay to run on Microsoft SQL Server on the back end . “ The SQL server runs well ; it ’s a solid mathematical product . There ’s no business case to change that , ” Frantz says .
But function by function , AWC will rewrite all VIPS guest software in Java 6.0 or eminent so it can run at the front end on Apple Macs . VIPS currently runs client software on Windows XP , which AWC will not upgrade to the newer Vista operating organization .
“ From what I ’ve observed , Windows Vista is the same [ as XP ] , but with prettier icons and a little pretty user interface , ” Frantz says . “ At the end of the day , our users are not going to do their piece of work any other than with Vista than with Windows XP . ”
But it will take 12 to 18 months to rewrite the VIPS client software to melt on Macintosh machines , and Frantz does n’t desire to detain the cost rescue and efficiency enhancement tied to the migration to Apple ironware . So in the interim , AWC will go on to run panjandrum on Windows using software from Renton , Wash.-basedParallelsthat let Macs run Windows applications in a practical surround .
The route to here
AWC ’s IT staff has been testing this conformation along with integrating Apple servers into its Windows - based mesh for the past four month .
“ We commence down this route self-governing of Apple , ” Frantz emphasizes . “ We bought some Apple gear and began to seek to make it sour on our own . ”
In previous February , Frantz gave a MacBook Pro to senior programmer / analyst Robert Mullen with a simple directive . “ Play with it for 30 days , and if at the close of the 30 days you do n’t like it , bring it back to me , ” Frantz remember .
“ I never went back , ” Mullen says . “ And then I started begging for an Apple background . ”
Mullen also experiment with Linux as an operating organization choice to Windows . “ I transitioned my full desktop from a Windows Vista enterprise desktop to a SUSE Linux screen background and was using the MacBook Pro as a laptop and SUSE Linux enterprisingness as my main background so we could see how well things exploit , ” he explains .
In the death , scheme stability and available support were the deciding element .
“ We went out on the Linux board to set about domesticate support , and the content we got back was that the Linux community would love to put to work with us and need to know how many humanity - hours of development we could put toward the overall Linux project , ” recalls Frantz . “ That did n’t give me a lot of assurance about Linux as the production environment for what we do . ”
Meanwhile , the Apple testing was depart extremely well . On the memory front , “ I develop off the Microsoft filing cabinet store we were using and moved everything to the Apple server , and it crop phenomenally , ” says Mike Collison , AWC ’s director of IS operations .
As for the VIPS app , Frantz say , “ Windows on my Mac run faster than any microcomputer I ’ve ever take in . It ’s blazingly fast . One of the independent things that stunned me is just how well the Mac ironware runs Windows . ”
On the whole , “ what we ’re bump is this stuff just works , ” says Frantz . “ We ’re at a point where we can deploy it ” companywide .
In his own broad office , Frantz has a PC hunt Vista stow on a back table . “ It ’s pretty , but from a pure functionality point of view , I ’m not using it any otherwise than I ’m using Windows XP , ” he says . So front and center on his desk is a 20 - in Apple iMac running XP in practical mode .
No staff result behind
AWC ’s 16 IT employees have also been educate on the Apple ironware and operating system . Frantz underscore that he has no plan to vary people because AWC is interchange technology .
“ We are not intending to go forth anyone in the [ IT ] section behind as part of this development project . We ’re going to be very , very careful as we tread frontward that we do everything to work everyone along , ” he sound out .
“ These folks have dealt with Windows - based PCs and server for their entire calling , ” notes Collison . “ But now , all of our techs are using Mac PowerBook Pros to support the enterprise . It ’s a moderately firm learning curve . ”
The group has work out a series of early integrating glitches , including streamlining virtual private web connections and integrating firewall software .
Collison recalls a meter when WatchGuard Technologies ’ firewall software had “ hung ” and was snag all accession to AWC ’s VPN . Using a MacBookPro and VPN Tracker software from Equinux , the internet director logged on and solved the trouble in minute . “ He draw it restarted , and everything was salutary , ” Collison says . “ It was poetry . ”
“ You run up against a serial of go or no - go decisions when you ’re doing a proof of concept , ” adds Mullen . “ But there seem to be no major barrier to stop the show . ”
Ironically , “ where it sire fuzzy ” is over the issue of licensing , says Frantz , who is meticulous about licensing records and computer software compliance . The interrogative , he aver , is , “ What do you need to be sound if you ’re run Windows XP in a virtual environment on Mac hardware ?
“ We are running a written matter of XP , so Microsoft deserve revenue for that , ” Frantz acknowledges . “ It ’s just that it ’s in a virtual workspace , so how do you plow the practical workspace ? ”
A likely root is to buy and use OEM licence for Windows XP . This should permit AWC to legally run XP in a virtual surroundings on Mac hardware , according to the Microsoft OEM System Builder License that comes with Windows XP Professional software , Frantz say .
Still , to be trusted , Frantz says he call in Microsoft twice in May , request clarification on the licensing subject , but he has yet to receive a call back from the vender .
Microsoft declined to resolve interrogation for this story about certify Windows to run in a practical surroundings . After several requests , the seller , through its public relations firm , referred customers toa Web site .
Pressed for more , it offered this assertion : “ Microsoft has reassessed the Windows virtualization insurance and decide that we will maintain the original insurance policy declare last fall . ”
As Gartner ’s Silver sees it , another potentially muzzy surface area is the return on investment funds that AWC can bear by switching from PCs and Windows to Apple ironware and its Mac OS X operating organisation . “ I ’m disbelieving about the ROI and how much it will be in the end , ” says Silver . “ endure Windows on a Mac is the most expensive fashion to run Windows , ” he notes . “ You have to buy the Parallels software , buy more retentiveness and buy a Windows XP license . It ’s not an cheap way to do things . ”
But Frantz is crystal readable on the issue : “ This is more of a strategical choice for the future . If we look toward a return on investment to Windows Vista , there is no unmediated return other than we continue line of work the way we always have . By investing in the Apple platform , we pick up additional functionality that we do n’t have today . ”
Go toComputerworldto read more onAWC ’s personal computer - to - Mac technology program , thecompany ’s dealing with Microsoft , itsuse of Parallels , and howthe iPhone works with the company ’s connection - based VIPS program .
