Systems vendors used the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo to show a deepening commitment to community-developed software, a trend that should help alleviate IT managers’ concerns about where they will find corporate support for Linux or open source deployments.
SAN FRANCISCO – Systems vendors used the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo to show a deepening commitment to community-developed software, a trend that should help alleviate IT managers’ concerns about where they will find corporate support for Linux or open source deployments (complete LinuxWorld coverage ).
“Finally, HP and IBM and the like are coming at it from the right direction,” says Al Tobey, senior Unix engineer at Priority Health in Grand Rapids, Mich. “They’re starting to see the revenue stream show up on their financials and they’re saying, ‘We need to do this from the top down.'”
The range of announcements at the show last week – which drew more than 11,400 attendees and a record 200 exhibitors – included expanded support for open source middleware, better security for Linux, virtualization and grid technology, management and configuration tools for integrated environments, and contributions to open source community efforts from commercial software vendors.
“All of these vendors are talking about integrating open source with commercial products,” says Jean Bozman, an analyst at IDC. “It’s the first time I’ve heard this much talk about that at the show.”
Vendors are looking at how open source and Linux fit into the bigger corporate network picture as customers begin demanding more open source support for business projects, she says.
“It’s no longer about looking at one platform,” she says. “It’s about looking at the network. There are lots of different parts across the network that have to fit in. They’re getting their arms around the bigger part of the open source solution.”
IBM, for example, announced a marked shift in its Linux strategy by focusing on Linux as part of technology packages aimed at solving specific business problems, rather than selling the isolated operating system simply as an inexpensive alternative to infrastructure.
The market has evolved beyond simple uses of Linux on the edge of the network or for server consolidation, says Steve Mills, senior vice president of IBM’s software group. “It’s now more about supporting business applications.”
IBM’s embrace of Linux and open source went even further, including the announcement that Big Blue would provide support for the Apache Software Foundation’s free Geronimo application server. IBM acquired Gluecode Software , which built its application server on the Geronimo code, in May.
Extending support to Geronimo gives customers another open source option with IBM backing, Mills says.
“We’re looking at how do we encourage the [open source community] to grow at an even faster rate,” he says.
As part of that effort, IBM also announced expanded Linux support for Lotus Notes Domino, including the ability to access the collaboration software from the Firefox Web browser.
In addition, IBM made several announcements focusing on its efforts to give back to the open source community, with plans to contribute its Gluecode management console to the Geronimo project. Novell also took a step to buttress the open source community with the introduction of its OpenSuSE project , which opens its SuSE Linux code to users and developers.
As for open source middleware, Dell announced that it would support the JBoss application server and the MySQL database on its PowerEdge systems. HP said it was expanding its support of open source applications, with more than 200 now available on its Integrity NonStop servers.
Where security is concerned, HP announced that its Virus Throttle, anti-virus software that it rolled out for Windows earlier this year, will be available for Linux in September. Red Hat also focused on security at the show, expanding its Red Hat Certificate System with a smartcard management tool and adding system-monitoring capabilities to its security offerings.
Virtualization and grid computing also was a big theme, with IBM announcing Grid and Grow, a prepackaged grid bundle that can run on Linux; Platform Computing extending its grid management software into the enterprise; HP and Red Hat announcing chassis-based pricing for Linux blade servers to eliminate licensing concerns for users who re-purpose or re-deploy blades in a dynamic environment; and Virtual Iron announcing that its virtualization management software will now support Xen , the open source virtualization technology.
Piotr Ochenkowski, an engineer with Boeing in Seattle, says it is encouraging to see vendors look at Linux from a business angle. Ochenkowski works for a division of Boeing that provides broadband Internet service to airplanes, a system that runs on Linux servers. However, most other Boeing data center operations run on Sun Solaris boxes, although the aircraft manufacturer is looking at incorporating more Linux into the company’s IT infrastructure.
“I noticed a change here [at the show] compared to past years. There are more businesspeople,” Ochenkowski says. “It used to be younger, hacking guys. Today, there are more people at the business level.”
That’s good news for IT managers trying to sell CIOs and other executives on the benefits of open source, users says.
“I can jump up and down and scream Linux for years – and I have been – but if it doesn’t come from the business-end down and we don’t get the CIO buy-in, then it’s really hard to push it through,” Priority Health’s Tobey says.
