Oliver, can you give us some background on you and on Alianza? Oliver: I’m the CEO of the company, which I started 11 years ago, and we have been growing every year. We have always been in the IT industry—we started out selling computers, and now we sell solutions. Over the past year, we changed from being Linux-based to Microsoft-based, and the process has been an interesting one.
I always focus on trying to get the best technologies out to our customers. Our customers are mostly small and medium-sized companies, although we do have some large companies as well.
What were some of the key points during your transition from Linux to Windows based hosting? Oliver: In terms of the transition from Linux to Windows, we started by re-selling some Linux servers. We didn’t host them in-house, but we were a retailer for the reseller, and all of the sudden we started growing.
Soon, we needed to have our own servers, and they were Linux based at the start. We were doing a lot of work with the companies that needed good pricing, and we thought at the time that going with Linux based solutions was a good choice in order to keep the up-front license costs down.
After a while, we began to understand that Microsoft actually had better TCO. At the beginning of this year, we started to consider Windows Server 2008 and IIS 7.0. We estimated that we could get a much better TCO for our clients with Windows Server, so we decided to migrate more than 200 of our clients from Linux to Windows.
What was the process like when you began moving your PHP based apps from Linux to Windows? Oliver: In fact, it was easy to move the apps over to a Windows server that was running PHP. We’ve begun the process of porting some of the PHP applications over to .NET, as well.
We encourage our customers to understand that it is not costly to run PHP on Windows. Of course, we are the guys in IT that say, “It's about time you can run PHP on Windows.” In almost every case, everyone is really happy that they can migrate and use Windows Server 2008 and do so with less cost than if they were running on Linux. Even if you have to pay for a license up front with Windows, in the long run, the cost savings is going to be substantial with Windows over Linux.
Have you been able to offset the up-front cost of the licenses? Oliver: We asked ourselves that question before making the decision to go with Microsoft. I think our clients were asking for new solutions and Microsoft had them already.
It was easier, for example, to roll out SharePoint on Windows than some Linux based portal solution. The changes to the hoster licensing agreement have also been a good thing. With the new agreement, a client can say, “I want 20 licenses for SQL Server this month, but next month I might need only 18.” With Microsoft, you get better applications, better run time, and you’re able to develop applications that much faster. With Windows, you’re not throwing your money away. You’re putting your money where you need it—in a strong set of software.
What was your strategy for communicating to all your customers that you were moving from Linux based servers to Windows based ones? Oliver: At the beginning, we followed a strategy of not telling our customers that we were moving. We just made the move, and they didn’t say anything. But we did get emails from customers saying things like, “Hey, what’s happening with my email? It’s much, much better now.”
Once we made the switch, we started telling customers what we did and why we made the change. For all of our customers who were developing on PHP, we told them we aren’t going to be doing PHP on Linux anymore and we are going to do work with ASP.NET and Windows moving forward. So if you want to work with us, you are going to have to change. The first concern they had was cost, and we told them that even if it cost them some money initially on the license, things would run much better overall in the long run on Windows. Now our clients understand why we need to sell them a license. The difficult part was that the larger companies had a lot of questions. These companies typically have internal IT departments, and they were the ones who were the most difficult to convince to migrate. But in the long run, they are going to be really happy. We have heard a number of positive things from these companies about the switch. Given that you moved from Linux to Windows, what differences have you seen in the level of security each platform provides? Oliver: Security was an issue for Microsoft four or five years ago. Back then, we thought Apache was very secure, but now what we see is that Microsoft does not have any problems with security. Before we began working with Microsoft, we always thought that Linux must be more secure, but we haven’t had any security problems with Microsoft now for a number of years.
What have you seen in terms of differences when it comes to patching?
Oliver: We find it easier with Windows. Windows Server 2008 is working very well for us, and we have had 100% uptime for a number of months now. That’s obviously a good thing.
Do you feel developers have been more productive after moving to ASP.NET from PHP?
Oliver: Oh yes. You have much more control over the design of a Web site with ASP.NET. You can also easily integrate and use applications like SharePoint. So yes, we are developing applications for customers much faster with ASP.NET.
How much faster do you think you have been able to build a typical ASP.NET site compared to a similar site based on PHP?
Oliver: I would say that we are 30% or 40% faster when putting together a site based on ASP.NET instead of PHP. During the testing phase, things go much more smoothly as well. ASP.NET makes it easier to see any problems you have before you go into production and release your application.
In closing, what has Microsoft been like as a partner? Oliver: Microsoft is so big that when you need something, it can be challenging to find someone to help you unless you have a good roadmap.
Our contacts in Microsoft have been able to help us develop that roadmap. Since last November, we have been working side by side, and they have been very supportive. They have told us what steps we need to take, and the relationship has been working well. We also have been growing as a result of our relationship with Microsoft, and I’m hoping that we can continue to grow with them, because there are lots of interesting areas that I would like to take our business. | 
