* ODSL releases Carrier Grade Linux 3.0
The Open Source Development Lab is bringing potential good news for carrier network managers at the LinuxWorld show this week. The non-profit organization has announced new versions of its Carrier Grade Linux and Data Center Linux operating system specifications.
Carrier Grade Linux 3.0 outlines specifications for Linux that would provide greater system availability, management capabilities, higher symmetric multi-processing (SMP) support, and larger system memory.
For reliability, the specification will call for a requirement of 99.999% system availability, which equates to five minutes of downtime in a year (a common requirement for carrier network equipment). The specification also calls for improved clustering support in Carrier Grade Linux-based products, as well as features that allow for online network management, software upgrading and patching. (This dovetails with the five-nines requirements.)
The Carrier Grade Linux specification is a list of requirements for how a Linux system should run in a telecommunications network. With vendors and telecom company engineers, the OSDL specifies what it takes for a Linux distribution to be certified as Carrier Grade Linux. Linux distributors and server makers then build products to the specifications. So far, Carrier Grade Linux-certified products are being shipped by Linux vendors including Connectiva, MontaVista Software, Red Hat, Novell, TimeSys, Turbolinux, and Wind River. Carrier gear makers selling Carrier Grade Linux equipment include Alcatel, Cisco, Datang, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Iskratel, Lucent, NEC, NTT, Nokia, Samsung, and Siemens.
The OSDL says Carrier Grade Linux 3.0 products will probably be shipping sometime in 2006.
