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Penguin saves Amazon $17m

E-tailer turns to Linux to cut costs...

By Joey Gardiner

Published: 1 November 2001 12:25 GMT

Amazon.com has slashed its IT spend by moving from Windows to Linux in a move which will add weight to claims by the open source community that the free OS really can save big business money.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Amazon said its IT expenditure fell from $71m to $54m in consecutive quarters after it shifted to an open source infrastructure.

That works out as a $17m saving - a quarter of the total IT budget.

Amazon said the savings reflected its decision to move to a "Linux-based technology platform that utilises a less-costly technology infrastructure".

It added that savings had also been made because the slowdown in the tech sector had forced down the price of IT services.

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