"We have learned that in order to deliver on IBM's on-demand strategy in the Intel space, there must be a level of procurement, aggregation and integration that companies like IGS and Cendant find very valuable," he says. Cendant has looked to Peak to manage specific customer SLAs in terms of delivery accuracy.
While Galileo has a longstanding relationship with Peak, it works primarily with IGS. "We can call Peak and get prices, but we pretty much run it through IGS," Cendant's Wiseman says. Despite the fact that IBM partners often see IGS as a competitor, DeRose says that Peak hasn't experienced channel conflict.
"IGS is embracing IBM business partners in order to bring the best overall solution to the customer," DeRose says.
A Few Obstacles
In general, one stumbling block to widespread Linux adoption comes from customers' in-house IT staffs and their lack of Linux know-how. Many want to turn to Linux to reduce costs in the hardware area, but there are still some staff-related costs to consider, IDC's Kusnetzky says.
"For an environment that isn't prepared for Linux, or doesn't have the Linux expertise in-house, they could find this very foreign to what they are doing," he says.
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