IBM is teaming up with partners in Austria and Poland to offer Microsoft-free PCs for the eastern European market. IBM says it is offering the Linux-based PCs together with Red Hat software distributor VDEL of Austria and Polish distributor and services firm LX Polska, in response to demand from Russian IT chiefs.
The PCs will include IBM's Lotus Symphony software based on the Open Document Format, a rival format to Microsoft's Office Open XML, which the latter is trying ADVERTISEMENT to get adopted as an ISO internationally approved standard.
IBM, which has sold its PC business to China's Lenovo, says the hardware will be made by partners of VDEL and LX Polska.
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 operator, to offer services and cut-price laptops installed with its Vista operating system for small businesses.
IBM says the Linux PC line, called Open Referent, will cut desktop computing costs by up to half.
It says chief information officers from Russian organisations including the Ministry of Defence, airline Aeroflot and private bank Alfa Bank have been among those who requesting open-source PCs.
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