OStatic

ZDNet U.K. is out with some interesting analysis of the LiMo Foundation's announcement that Verizon Wireless, Mozilla and several other organizations are joining up with it. According to the ZDNet U.K. report, there may be some moves afoot by "two of the very well-known Linux distribution companies that currently operate in the enterprise space" to join LiMo and combine mobile open source applications on Linux phones with enterprise open source deployments.

Morgan Gillis, the head of LiMo, told ZDNet U.K.:

"We're looking at two of the very well-known Linux-distribution companies that currently operate in the enterprise space but are interested in bridging between the enterprise and mobile. "

"The principle area of interest [regarding these two companies] is evolving the software stack such that it's really fit for purpose as a mobile platform in the enterprise segment, and will support applications and services for enterprise which interoperate comfortably on mobile devices and desktop devices. It's seamless enterprise computing, basically."

This flies directly in the face of the assumption that upcoming Linux and Android phones might appeal only to consumers. As we covered in our LiMo post this morning, at the Mobile World Congress, earlier this year, LiMo's Linux mobile platform got high marks for good performance. There were more than 20 new phones based on LiMo's platform announced there, and many more based on Google's Android platform, which is Linux-based. These phones are expected to arrive in waves later this year.

For enterprises, cell phones and related services are significant cost centers. If Linux-based phones do start to integrate seamlessly with Linux-based enterprise applications, there could be large costs savings for many big businesses.

It's not clear yet which "well-known Linux distribution companies that currently operate in the enterprise space" Gillis is referring to, but Red Hat and Novell would be good guesses, in my opinion. We'll keep our eyes on what comes of this news, but LiMo already has a large U.S. wireless service provider behind it (Verizon), Mozilla for browser functionality, a major chip maker (Infineon), and many more partners. If big companies that put Linux on business desktops join in, the Nokias of the world will have to think hard about the implications.

• mozilla
• Red Hat
• novell
• LiMo
• Infineon