Enterprises could make savings of up to 80 per cent by switching to Linux servers and desktops, Novell has claimed.

The company believes that enterprises and government organisations using Unix could save up to 80 per cent in deployment, maintenance and service costs by switching to Linux, while a switch from Windows to Linux could save up to 50 per cent.

Government and retail sectors will pioneer the deployment of Linux in the enterprise, Jack Messman, Novell's chief executive, told vnunet.com.

But he added that there would be no sudden mass movement of government organisations to Linux.

"They will migrate when a contract is up for renewal or when an upgrade is needed; it will also be added to the periphery," he said.

In a separate speech Linux creator Linus Torvalds also argued the benefits of governments deploying open source servers and applications.

"When it comes to governments what I have found interesting is that you're not beholden to anybody or vendor. I think governments are finding that important too," he said.

Messman predicted a boom time for Linux in the next 48 months. "It will take some adjustment; we all need to think differently," he told delegates.

"But 2004 will be the year that Linux goes mainstream on enterprise servers. Soon after it will flow into business users' desktops."

He also argued that open source operating platforms were crucial for the growth of the mobile computing and electronic device markets.

But he promised that Novell would maintain its commitment to NetWare. "We said we're not dropping NetWare but adding Linux, and we're still committed to that promise," he said.

As a result, Novell has bought forward the release date of its NetWare 7 Server product to the end of this year, 12 months ahead of schedule.

Renamed Open Enterprise Server, NetWare 7 Server will use both NetWare and SuSE Linux kernels and integrate applications from each into the other.