One of the Philippines Leading Retailers to Use Linux-based System

Puregold, one of the leading retailers here in the Philippines is set to deploy a Linux-based point-of-sale system (POS) to cut down operating costs. It has reportedly ordered more than 2,000 licenses of TPLinux software, which will be installed to Puregold’s network of stores.

TPLinux is owned by Wincor Nixdorf, a German corporation that provides retail and retail banking hardware, software, and services. TPLinux has the capability to run on other vendors’ hardware as well as Wincor Nixdorf’s own systems. Puregold is the first Filipino company that will utilize the German firm’s open source-based software.

Puregold is looking to cut overall licensing costs in terms of security while standardizing on an open-source platform, covering both current and future store openings.

In an interview by Lawrence Casiraya of Inquirer.net, Ruel Magat, the company's IT Manager said,

“We wanted to cut the cost of buying anti-virus licenses and save on the cost of the license of (Microsoft) Windows per POS.”

Christian Charlton, Wincor Nixdorf’s Asia Pacific head of retail solutions, added that Puregold also intends to use the open source-based software to boost its customer-related initiatives such as promos and discounts.

In these tough economic times, I hope more and more companies here will follow what Puregold has done and will somewhat realize the true value of open source software.