85,000 desktops. La Gendarmerie National, part of the French POLICE FORCE, faced growing IT infrastructure costs and decided to review its existing Microsoft-based environment. After switching from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org and from Internet Explorer to Firefox, the police force decided to upgrade 85,000 desktop PCs to Ubuntu, removing its reliance on the Microsoft operating system almost COMPLETELY. As well as simplifying maintenance and improving ease of use, Ubuntu is saving the police force €2 million a year in licence fees alone. By repurposing 4,500 machines to act as local SERVERS, it has also dramatically reduced its hardware expenditure. The police force’s IT team tested a NUMBER of operating systems but found Ubuntu to be the best fit for the organisation.

85,000 desktops. La Gendarmerie National, part of the French police force, faced growing IT infrastructure costs and decided to review its existing Microsoft-based environment. After switching from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org and from Internet Explorer to Firefox, the police force decided to upgrade 85,000 desktop PCs to Ubuntu, removing its reliance on the Microsoft operating system almost completely. As well as simplifying maintenance and improving ease of use, Ubuntu is saving the police force €2 million a year in licence fees alone. By repurposing 4,500 machines to act as local servers, it has also dramatically reduced its hardware expenditure. The police force’s IT team tested a number of operating systems but found Ubuntu to be the best fit for the organisation.