IBM, NEC, Hitachi and Fujitsu team on Linux
IBM Corp., NEC Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Fujitsu Ltd. announced plans in Wednesday to begin working together on strengthening the Linux operating system.
The four companies will jointly commit 500 researchers and 10 billion to 20 billion yen (US$83 million[M] to $165 million[M]) to the project, which will focus on enhancing the reliability of Linux to make it more suitable for use in large organizations and corporations, said Kosuke Yamauchi, a spokesman for NEC.
The results of the project, which is expected to last between one and two years, will be published to the global Linux community, the four companies said in a statement.
"Linux needs some re-tuning in order for it to be used in the enterprise area. Currently it is mostly used in the network area," said Yamauchi. "Availability, reliability and other mission-critical aspects need to be improved."
"All four companies are mainframe (computer) manufacturers and have long experience in tuning our own operating systems for critical customer requirements. We decided it is much better to share the information we have and to avoid duplication of proposals to the Linux community," he added. "We can accelerate development time-wise because no duplication means we can theoretically do things four times faster."
The project, said Yamauchi, will focus first on improving the reliability of Linux so that it can better compete with the various types of Unix-based operating system.
"In the enterprise area, there are 3 or 4 operating systems. Proprietary systems are used in mission-critical applications, then Unix and then Linux and others like it. Linux needs to be enhanced step-by-step, first to Unix level and then maybe the higher level."
Demand for Linux-based servers is rising fast in Japan. In October last year, International Data Corp. (IDC) predicted shipments of Linux-based servers would be 41,200 in Japan during 2000, an increase of 144 percent on the previous year and accounting for 7.8 percent of all server shipments during 2000. This compares with 9.4 percent for Unix, 18.3 percent for Windows 2000 and 69.2 percent for Windows NT.
IDG News Service
Symantec Backup Exec 12 and Backup Exec System Recovery 8 deliver industry leading Windows data protection and system recovery. Download this whitepaper to find out the top reasons to upgrade and how to get continuous data protection and complete system recovery.
Data and system loss — from a hard drive failure, malicious attack, natural disaster, or simple human error — can happen anytime. Don’t leave your business vulnerable. Make sure you have a secure recovery strategy in place. Symantec's latest backup and system recovery technology can efficiently restore critical applications, individual emails and documents and even restore your entire system in minutes in the event of a loss.
Businesses face a growing challenge to ensure that the IT environment is properly protected. Backup Exec 12 integrates with other applications in the Symantec family of products, to complement your current data protection strategy, keep your data securely backed up and make it recoverable when you need it most.
VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise
By Edward L. Haletky
Published Dec 29, 2007 by Prentice Hall.
Enter now! | Official rules | Sample chapter
Green IT
By Toby Velte, Anthony Velte, Robert C. Elsenpeter
To be published Oct. 10, 2008 by McGraw Hill Professional
Enter now! | Official rules | About the book
