MUMBAI: Red Hat India, a joint venture between Clover Technologies, India and Red Hat Inc, USA - the world's premier open source software provider, is all set to introduce the latest version of Linux in India by December end this year.
This latest offering from Red Hat is a platform for the debut of the much-awaited, all new Open Source Architecture, which is essentially a plan for organizations to build scalable and secure enterprise environments with standards-based components including middleware, applications, and management tools.
Says Red Hat India director Javed Tapia, "The Open Source Architecture will create a focal point for our development efforts and strategic business activities. This new direction will now help enhance Red Hat's reputation as the leading provider of open source solutions, moving us far beyond our role as a leading operating system company. This effort is in response to the needs of our enterprise customers and ISVs. The new Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 will form the platform for Red Hat's Open Source Architecture."
Red Hat's goal is to move the price/performance benefits of open source into other areas of the computing infrastructure. Delivering components of the Open Source Architecture through a phased approach, Red Hat claims to extend the value of open source beyond the operating system further up the solution stack with a portfolio of optional layered products for all aspects of an enterprise.
Emphasizing scalability, performance and extended system coverage, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 provides a stable operating system platform that enables customers to realise the benefits of open source solutions across their complete computing infrastructure - from the desktop to the largest server.
The solution stack on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 Platform will include Red Hat Cluster Suite, Red Hat Developer Suite, Red Hat Portal Server and Red Hat Content Management System. Red Hat Cluster Suite provides high availability clustering for Red Hat Enterprise Linux server products, and Red Hat Developer Suite provides a fully featured Integrated Development Environment (IDE), based on the Eclipse project, for application developers. Red Hat Portal Server is a framework to aggregate local and remote content along with applications into an easy-to-configure web interface. Red Hat Content Management system is a complete workflow based engine to manage content creation and delivery for an intranet, extranet or Internet site. These products provide important components of Red Hat's Open Source Architecture and further enhance the enterprise capabilities of the environment.
The new Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3, comprised of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS (for database/CRM, mission-critical applications), Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES (edge-of-network applications such as file/print, mail and web servers) & Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS (enterprise desktop and technical workstation) has a host of new features and capabilities. There are over 100 Priority One features and 350 enhancements, including better support for large SMP, memory and I/O configurations, Forward compatibility between RHEL 2.1 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3. Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS will also provide a platform for High Performance Cluster (HPC). HPC-focused packaging will also be available for select OEM partners. Red Hat Global Learning Services are also available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.
It will be available in 10 international languages. While Red Hat has agreed to lengthen the release cycle to 18 months to support enterprise customers, it is also ensuring that future Linux 2.5/2.6 features are back-ported on to the current version ensuring enterprise stability combined with the latest technical features.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 is available as a part of an annual subscription that includes Red Hat Network and support services. Red Hat Network is the web based systems management platform. Through a simple user interface, administrators can perform patch management, updates, monitoring, and maintenance. Various levels of support services are available including 24x7.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 was developed in close collaboration with customers, OEM and ISV partners with a focus on performance, scalability, and the support of a secure, consistent enterprise-wide platform. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 includes numerous features providing a potent combination of the latest technical features and enterprise stability:
* Native POSIX Threading Library provides significant performance improvement for multi-threading applications.
* Scalability improvements include support for larger SMP, memory and I/O configurations.
* Single code base improves code stability, maintainability and security.
* 7 Supported hardware architectures include Intel x86 and Itanium, AMD64, IBM zSeries, iSeries, pSeries, and S/390.
As with other open source products, ISV partners, OEM partners and the open source community will also play an important role in further broadening the options for solutions that would fit within the Open Source Architecture.
The launch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 is expected to open several new markets for the company.
Red Hat India has also announced the pricing for its standard editions:
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (Intel x86) Rs 74,950.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3 Standard (IPF) (64 bit) Rs 99,600.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3 Standard (AMD) (64 bit) Rs 99,600.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS 3 Standard (IBM i series) Rs 99,600.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux - Cluster Rs 25,000.
Red Hat Linux Professional Workstation Rs 3,250.
Red Hat Network Proxy Service Rs 2,50,000.
Red Hat Network Satellite Service Rs 12,50,000.
