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 NEWSLinux climbs up By Dan Neel August 11, 2000 BEFORE GOING ON to become CEO of San Francisco-based TurboLinux, one of the world's fastest-growing Linux suppliers, Paul Thomas loaded an early version of Linux onto an employer's mail server. The open-source OS was so reliable that more than a year passed before it was discovered.
Among enterprise executives Linux is rapidly gaining a reputation for reliability backed by a developer community constantly refining the free open-source code. But to meet the platform needs of the enterprise, the currently available open-source code has some growing up to do, industry observers say. "I think there are a number of pieces missing for Linux to be an enterprise platform for it to be competitive with operating systems already in the computer room," explains Dan Kuznetsky, an analyst at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC. "There are middleware pieces, the more sophisticated ones that connect from enterprise to enterprise, that are not there, along with transaction-oriented middleware." Last year alone, Linux surpassed the hugely successful Unix as the platform of choice for the dot-com-driven front-end server market, helped along by the fact that Linux runs on generic hardware priced way below expensive RISC Unix servers. And those familiar with its small footprint also see a bright future for Linux in handheld PDAs (personal digital assistants) and set-top boxes. "It's maturing faster than any operating system in history," explains Daniel Frye, program director at the IBM Linux technical center, in Armonk, N.Y. "I think CTOs and CIOs all over the world have begun asking about Linux and they are very interested, but it's not there yet." But what will it take to get there? Most Linux users agree on the answer to that question: database reliability, more applications, and a better interface. Moving beyond the server A key hurdle for Linux to jump on its way toward advancing further into the enterprise will be how well it makes the transition from supporting clustered, high-volume servers to handling the computation-heavy database environment. Already Linux has demonstrated some success as a viable server-side solution. Take Houston-based Amerada Hess, a global Fortune 500 oil company that writes its own custom oil-and gas-mapping applications and has found both stability and affordability using Linux. The company's exploration and production division had been spending more than $70,000 per month to lease a large-scale server before implementing Linux. "We wanted to reduce costs, but it was also a competitive decision, putting an operating system in that our programmers could more readily modify," says Jeff Davis, senior systems programmer at the company. Amerada purchased an unbranded, 32-node Linux cluster for slightly more than the cost of two months of leasing the previous server and moved the raw processing tasks of its oil-and gas-mapping models onto it. Google.com, a Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet search engine start-up, also has found server-side success with Linux. The company has managed to cluster more than 5,000 Linux servers running nonstop Internet computing functions. Still, rather than relying solely on Linux, Google has developed its own tools to ensure redundancy in its massive Linux cluster. Without the added proprietary technology, Sergey Brin, president of the company, says that Linux "is not flexible and efficient enough" to provide adequate redundancy and that added clustering technology to the Linux kernel would be beneficial. "Clustering is one of the things that is hot in Linux today," IBM's Frye agrees. "But just like clusters did with Unix in the '90s, clustering on Linux is still primitive. But I expect it to mature very quickly." Russ Holt, vice president and general manager of Round Rock, Texas-based computer supplier Dell Computer, says companies are more guarded when it comes to their databases. "Companies want to know who's standing directly behind [their database]," Holt says. "I'm not saying it can't be done by Linux; it's just yet to be determined, and for Linux to go forward, the database is critical." Still, Netledger.com, a provider of Web-based small-business accounting solutions, has taken Linux to the database level. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company operates 2,000 Linux servers, half of which run Oracle databases. "Linux is absolutely 100 percent available for prime-time introduction into the data center," says Dave Durkee, CIO of NetLedger. Recalling past server fail-overs, Durkee says he couldn't ask for "a more robust platform than Linux." The only improvement he's had to make has been in the NFS (Network File System), he says. Adding in application support Central to Linux's climb into the enterprise will be wider application support. Durkee says he already is seeing "a lot more Linux applications recently." But IDC's Kuznetsky points out that Linux is still missing several pieces. "[Linux still needs] disk mirroring and file or volume replication systems," Kuznetsky says. "We have low-level development tools, but we don't have the rapid application development tools -- although they're coming." But Durkee doesn't see this as a problem. "That's the phenomenal power of the open-source model," Durkee says. "You can pick and choose the vendors you want because the open-source code can just be transferred." Advances in 64-bit Linux may deliver what enterprise needs. Historically secretive Intel recently divulged all the inner workings of its upcoming IA-64 architecture so that developers, specifically Linux developers, could prepare applications for the introduction of 64-bit computing. Intel hopes that by doing so the Linux community won't have to play catch-up in the same way it continues to scramble to equip 32-bit Linux. And by the time IA-64 is released, TurboLinux will offer improvements in stability and load balancing, a broadened choice of interfaces, and an expanded range of protocol support, says Lonn Johnson, vice president of marketing at TurboLinux. "Not only will we have general upgrades to Linux, but also enhanced security [and] enhanced management tools for large deployments," Johnson says. Linux inventor Linus Torvalds promises that the core Linux kernel will have its own set of improvements. "Linux 2.4 will be the next release kernel, and it is feature-complete," he says. "The next version scales better than anything we are aware of." Stepping up the interface Linux's usability will need to be re-evaluated for the OS to gain wider acceptance in the enterprise. Despite its flexible, Unix-style interface, the Linux interface receives complaints even from loyal users. "I don't think enough care has gone into crafting that default user environment," Google.com's Brin complains. "If millions [of people] are going to use it, you need to look at the user experience very carefully." Brin also calls the Linux interface "not very sensible" and says "there are confusing behaviors" to its logic that could act as a barrier to Linux's adoption by the PC and laptop computer market. And although some users, such as Allan Tear, COO of Atlanta-based streaming audio/video company Incanta.net, feel that the Linux interface "becomes a secondary issue" when the focus is strictly server-oriented, PC and laptop users may feel differently. The market seems to bear this point out. Although Dell has a set Linux configuration that it offers on its PCs, the demand isn't there to extend its Linux jofferings, Holt says. "We haven't blown [Linux] out across the entire product line because we haven't seen the customer requests for that," Holt says. It can work in the enterprise Enterprise companies stand to benefit greatly from implementing Linux. "Linux is a natural winner, as it works great and gives flexibility," Durkee says. "I don't think it will appear on the desktop, as it's not a desktop operating system, but it will continue to grow into ISPs and ASPs [application service providers] and into the data center." In almost every business environment, the ability to write spot-modifications to Linux for the actual requirements of an organization can be a cost saver. And Linux users such as Google.com's Brin tell of lightning-fast responses from the Linux community regarding code-related questions. But for true enterprise adoption to occur, perceptions of Linux at the IT and executive level need to shift. "Of course it will take time to move into the corporate data center, time for conservative IT managers to understand that there is no risk, and they may need to see that time and time again before they believe it," Durkee says.  Send comments to reporter Dan Neel (dan_neel@infoworld.com).
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