Case Study: Oakland University achieves major server cost savings with Ubuntu

Oakland University replaces UNIX with Ubuntu

Oakland University’s School of Engineering and Computer Science needed to modernize its aging Unix/Solaris environment, support both Linux and Windows for students and faculty, and cut the high cost of Sun hardware and licenses. The school also wanted a more uniform, easier-to-support setup for laptops, thin clients, servers, and applications used across engineering and computer science.

Ubuntu helped Oakland University replace proprietary Unix with a Linux-based infrastructure, including Ubuntu 6.06.1 and Ubuntu 7.10 on HP ProLiant servers and LTSP thin-client systems. The migration was nearly complete after four years, eliminating nearly all Sun hardware and Solaris from the server room while preserving application performance and reducing infrastructure costs to a fraction of the original expense.

Oakland University

Ken Simon

Computer Networking Administrator