An FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) company, Eveready Industries India Limited has a portfolio comprising dry cell batteries, flashlights and packet tea. The world’s third-largest producer of carbon zinc batteries, Eveready sells more than a billion units a year. In India, Eveready’s carbon zinc batteries dominate the market, with a complete range for all equipment types.
“One factor that put Linux hugely in our favour was the issue of security”
Arup Choudhury, GM, IT, Eveready Industries Ltd
“We chose a Linux server due to many factors. The primary reason being our ERP package, which is the Oracle e-business suite. Since Oracle also supports Linux, we felt it would be ideal for us to use a Linux server. Also, as opposed to Windows, Linux offers better security and stability.
“It cannot be denied that Linux servers are certainly affordable vis-Ã -vis Windows servers. In our case, we have been using Linux for more than a year. And so far, we haven’t encountered any difficulties with its functioning. Moreover, we are yet to experience any downtime with it! Even the cost of usage for the Linux server is considerably lower than that of Windows.
“Another major factor that put Linux hugely in our favour was the issue of security. As opposed to Windows, it cannot be denied that only a few viruses have cracked the Unix kernel till date.
“We have a very convenient setup when it comes to maintenance and support. As a matter of fact, we have a three-tier support. We are using the Advanced Server 3.0 provided by Red Hat, which also takes care of implemeting new concepts. Our performance issues are handled by Oracle, and our day-to-day downloads by Tata Consultancy Services.
“From experience, we can declare that a Linux server makes for a stable and robust choice. Moreover, due to its affordability, Linux enjoys a huge popularity in the Asia-Pacific region. It is a sign of times to come.”
Performance-wise, Windows server is one of the fastest 
“Microsoft IIS 6 is the platform of choice for business-critical enterprises”
Selvamuthiah Somasundaram, Associate VP, Business Development, SatNav
SatNav develops hi-tech, computer-aided facilities management (CAFM) products, and provides facilities management to industries. It conceptualised an in-car navigation system, an in-house routing engine, and a vehicle tracking system amongst others.
“While developing our business infrastructure management system, we decided to go for a server that had a user-friendly interface and would be easy to deploy and administer. We didn’t want to compromise on the reliability, scalability and performance of the server. We found the Windows server to be suitable for our requirements.
“The Windows server is one of the fastest, and also an industry leader in performance and scalability. Be it fileserver throughput or serving static or dynamic Web content, Windows servers are fast and reliable.
“Microsoft IIS 6, the Web server for Windows Server 2003, is the platform of choice for business-critical enterprises. It provides the sophistication vital for today’s Web server. With it we could build a highly secure environment, manage application pools and create clusters to achieve maximum uptime.
“As far as site hosting capabilities of the Windows server are concerned, sites developed using different technologies such as ASP, .NET, and PHP can be hosted. The Windows server includes Enterprise UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) Services and a dynamic and flexible infrastructure for XML Web services. This standards-based solution enables companies to run their own UDDI directory for intranet or extranet use, making it easy to discover Web services and other programmatic resources.
“Our intranet is developed on .NET and with an MS SQL Server backend. And as regards service, being members of the MS Empower Program, we could access the support team for any technical queries. The support we get is excellent, with an unbelievable turnaround time.”