Trustix aims pay-as-you-go pricing scheme at hosting providers

Secure Linux distribution maker Trustix recently launched a software-pricing scheme aimed at users in the server hosting market.

The Linux company’s “pay-as-you-go” pricing program could help business in the hosting market streamline how they pay for support for Linux server software. Instead of buying support licenses for each Trustix Linux server running in a hosting facility, users can pay for only the servers they have up and running on a per-month basis.

Because the amount of server power a hosting firm uses fluctuates on a monthly basis Trustix says this subscription-based, month-to-month model lets hosting firms avoid paying for support on servers that are not being used in their facilities.

Trustix says it is targeting this pricing model at hosting firms that may be having issues supporting Sun’s Cobalt Linux appliances (which the company discontinued) or Red Hat Linux 9.0, which the vendor no longer provides security updates for.

Trustix itself is a secure Linux distribution that includes Web, e-mail and firewall versions. Trustix is Linux-based but uses proprietary code to secure the Linux kernel to run as a secure Web server, firewall or e-mail server. The “hardened” servers are built to withstand buffer overflow attacks and “stack-smashing” attacks used in Linux server hacks. The vendor says Trustix also has a built-in software updating system that keeps the servers patched automatically when new updates are made available.