Sybase opens Linux workout room on Wall Street

While Linux companies themselves haven’t done much on Wall Street in terms of stock performance, the technology itself continues to draw interest from financial companies that do business there.

Sybase tapped into this trend last week when it opened a Linux testing facility on Wall Street, in the hopes of luring financial firms into using Linux-based versions of its database software.

The Sybase Linux Competency Center will make available all of Sybase’s Linux-based software products, which include database software, application server platforms, and data replication products, to financial firms to test. Hardware from Dell, HP, IBM, Intel and Sun will be available with Linux software provided by Red Hat.

By opening its own enterprise Linux workout room, the database company is taking a leaf out of IBM’s book. Last year, Big Blue opened its IBM Linux Center for Competence, which offers an array of IBM-based hardware and software running on Linux.

The push towards Linux by financial firms comes as a cost-cutting measure for many of the leading investment firms. Institutions such as Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse First Boston, have taken a beating in the wake of the Internet bust and recession, and one way they’re looking to save money is by swapping out aging RISC-based Unix boxes with Intel-based Linux gear.