Deploying and investing in Linux means significant IT savings not just in software licensing but by moving to a shared commodity IT architecture, according to Oracle.

Attendees at LinuxWorld Expo in New York heard Oracle describe Linux as a catalyst in changing the fundamental way we go about computing.

"Linux is not just about lower cost. It's about enabling building blocks," said Dave Dargo, vice president at Oracle.

These building blocks comprise low cost Intel/AMD powered hardware, such as blade servers and multiprocessor systems, with the shared storage using storage area networks and network attached storage linked by high speed interconnects.

Running Linux on such an infrastructure provides a cost-effective network for grid computing that will dramatically cut the cost of IT in corporations, according to Dargo.

"All industries that have adopted standard building blocks have seen their costs go down and reliability go up," he said. "Linux is the foundation for grid computing."

Like many Linux advocates at the show, Dargo insisted that corporate Linux deployments are set to boom this year.

Key to that growth, Oracle believes, will be the ability for enterprises to be sure of support for the applications they deploy on Linux.

The database giant has offered support for Oracle on Linux at no additional cost to its support customers, which Dargo claims has been a key factor in swelling interest in Linux within its user base.

Unix developers' ability to use their existing skills to develop for the Linux platform will also speed the switch to Linux.

"Linux is set for significant uptake because with Linux there is skill set retention among developers," said Dargo.

"This is the most compelling price point: Linux retains what developers have learnt over the past decade."

Oracle has already taken its own developers into a Linux-based grid network.

"In October last year, all our application developers for the e-biz suite moved to develop in a Linux-on-Intel environment managed in a grid," said Dargo.

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