Consumer goods giant Unilever is moving its global IT infrastructure onto a Linux platform in a drive to cut €100m (£66m) from its IT budget over the next three years.

The company is aiming for cost savings and a simpler infrastructure by switching from a Unix enterprise server environment to Linux running on Itanium, starting with its customer management systems later this year.

Talking exclusively to vnunet.com Martin Armitage, head of Unilever's Global Infrastructure Organisation, said the move would dramatically cut the company's hardware costs as well as delivering performance improvements.

"In terms of Itanium we are seeing already a 20 to 30 per cent benefit and I would expect that to rise to 30 to 40 per cent when volumes increase."

Unilever currently runs its applications on IBM's AIX and Compaq's Tru64 Unix platforms, but will be migrating to Linux over the next three years with its technology partners IBM and Hewlett Packard.

Firewall and web servers are already run on Linux, but the first major enterprise system to move over will be the company's customer management information system, which should be complete by the end of the year.

"Ultimately in 2005 we'd expect our SAP and PeopleSoft systems to be hosted on this platform," said Armitage.

The Linux strategy is a major part of Unilever's drive to cut its IT bill. Armitage explained that as part of an organisation-wide plan the IT budget had already been reduced from €600m (£398m) in 2000 to €500m (£332m) this year.

"We aim to take another €100m off in the next three years," he said.

The main savings will come from hardware, which currently accounts for 40 per cent of the company's infrastructure costs. The Linux strategy will contribute through server consolidation and by reducing unit costs.

A move to Linux in the desktop environment is not on the cards though, with Unilever planning to stick with Windows unless there is an industry shift to the open source desktop operating system. However, Armitage said the company is considering all the options for its next office applications upgrade.

"In terms of operating systems we're waiting and seeing as we're driven by the application vendors," he said. "When will they have client technology that runs on an open desktop?"

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