* SCO Group releases SCO Linux Server 4.0 for Intel Itanium 2
Proving that its efforts aren’t focused on suing IBM in order to make money, the SCO Group is this week unleashing a version of its Linux distribution for 64-bit Intel Itanium 2 servers.
The new server software, SCO Linux Server 4.0, is based on UnitedLinux 1.0, a Linux version that is supported by UnitedLinux members SCO, SuSE, TurboLinux and Connectiva. UnitedLinux was formed last year to promote a common Linux distribution that would help spur the porting of code to Linux by independent software vendors, and to make it easier to run and support Linux in the enterprise.
SCO Linux 4.0 is based on Linux kernel Version 2.4.19, and is aimed at large data-intensive deployments, such as multi-user database servers or compute-intensive applications, including CAD or mathematical modeling. The server software also includes clustering capabilities for scaling large multinode systems. With its new offering, SCO joins Red Hat, SGI and SuSE in the club of Linux vendors supporting Intel’s Itanium 2 platform.
While uptake of Linux servers is strong among enterprise IT buyers, demand of Linux on Itanium 2 – or any operating system on that platform – is much weaker, according to a recent survey by Merrill Lynch.
Of the 100 CIOs surveyed by Merrill Lynch recently, 36% said they had Linux installed in their networks. But when asked to rate their interest in Itanium 2 on a scale from 1 to 10, the average score was a 4.9. Plus, a third of the CIOs said they would not think about buying the server CPU platform until 2005 at the earliest.
SCO Linux Server 4.0 is priced at $1,000. The price allows users to install the software on up to four processors, and includes a year of support from SCO’s Linux Update Service, which provides automated software update packages, patches and other maintenance notifications to subscribers.
