IBM has teamed up with partners in Austria and Poland to offer Microsoft-free personal computers for the Eastern European market, Big Blue said in a statement Tuesday.IBM is offering the PCs based on the open-source Linux operating system together with Red Hat software distributor VDEL of Austria and Polish distributor and services firm LX Polska in response to requests from Russian IT chiefs.
The PCs will include IBM's
IBM, which has sold its
Russia, where many large corporations and public-service bodies are building large computer systems for the first time, is emerging as a key battleground between Microsoft and rivals offering open-source alternatives.
Microsoft is active in IT education campaigns in Russia and last month signed a deal with MTS, Russia's largest mobile phone operator, to offer services and cut-price laptops installed with its Vista operating system for small businesses.
IBM said the Linux PC line it will offer with VDEL and LX Polska, called Open Referent, will cut desktop computing costs for buyers by up to half.
It said chief information officers from Russian organizations including the Ministry of Defense, airline Aeroflot, and private bank Alfa Bank had been among those who had requested an open-source PC.
An IBM representative declined to give any sales forecasts on behalf of its partners.
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