Red Hat still has sway

Linux & Open Source This newsletter is sponsored by EMC Get Your Infrastructure Under Control Accurately manage change impact and enrich your configuration management database. EMC Smarts ADM software discovers and creates a real-time, interactive model of a business' overall application environment. Discover the steps required to automate the management of IT environments to effectively respond to changing business demands. Click here to download this whitepaper today! Network World's Linux & Open Source Newsletter, 05/14/07 Red Hat still has sway By Phil Hochmuth While Red Hat has challenges, it's still one of the most influential vendors in Linux and open source. And last week's Red Hat Summit in San Diego showed that the company still has plenty of momentum and sway in the industry. The third-annual event kicked off with news from IBM, which said it was teaming with Red Hat to provide greater security for mainframes — or System z — running the leading enterprise Linux distribution. IBM's System z vice president, Jim Stallings, told summit attendees that the two vendors have created a joint technical group devoted to supporting Red Hat on IBM mainframes with emphasis on system security. The two companies also announced development of security-enhanced Red Hat Linux for the Systme z; this is Red Hat's take on SE Linux technology, developed originally by the NSA, to secure and isolate applications running on a Linux system. On the other end of the computing spectrum, Red Hat also announced its Red Hat Global Desktop initiative — a package of Red Hat desktop Linux and productivity applications, targeted a SMBs and government users. The software was co-developed with Intel, and is designed to run on low-cost PC hardware lines the hardware vendor has planned. Observers said the move is an attempt to gain back some desktop Linux mindshare it may have lost to Ubuntu, as well as Novell's most recent SUSE Enterprise Linux Desktop (SLED). From servers to storage: Virtualization saves It's touted as one of the fastest and easiest ways to better manage and control your infrastructure. Download this guide today and see how network IT execs are making virtualization pay off in the real world; discover the 8 virtualization gotchas you need to know; and much more. Click here to download. Virtualization was also on Red Hat's to-do list at the summit; the company announced virtualization technology for Intel-based vPro desktops — machines with OS/hardware hooks that take care of tasks such as client security and management. Red Hat says users will be able to create virtual machines on desktops which take advantage of vPro technology, and provide IT administrators with greater control over end-user machines — even beyond the offerings of the stand-alone vPro feature set, Red Hat claims. Red Hat also gave shindig attendees a sneak preview of its bread-and-butter offering: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5; improvements in virtualization hardware support; and better support for advanced server technologies such as Non-uniform memory access (NUMA) architectures.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

Contact the author: Phil Hochmuth is a Network World Senior Editor and a former systems integrator. You can reach him at phochmut@nww.com. This newsletter is sponsored by EMC Get Your Infrastructure Under Control Accurately manage change impact and enrich your configuration management database. EMC Smarts ADM software discovers and creates a real-time, interactive model of a business' overall application environment. Discover the steps required to automate the management of IT environments to effectively respond to changing business demands. Click here to download this whitepaper today! ARCHIVE Archive of the Linux & Open Source Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007