Computer Giants Unite on Linux Lab

By
Peter Svensson
January 7, 2006, 7:28 AM ET
2 min read

N E W   Y O R K, Aug. 30, 2000 -- The community of mostly volunteer programmers that has built Linux into a formidable operating system is getting some help from computer industry giants.

IBM, Intel Corp.,Hewlett-Packard Co. and NEC Corp. are announcing today thatthey will create a laboratory with an investment of several milliondollars where programmers can test Linux software on the largecomputer systems that are common in the corporate world.

The lab is expected to open by the end of the year nearPortland, Ore.

High-End Enterprise Hardware Access

Linux is an “open source” operating system that anyone canmodify, as long as the modifications are made available for free onthe Internet. It has a devoted following among programmers, whocollaborate on software projects over the Web. These softwareengineers can usually only test software on their own desktopcomputers, part of the reason Linux is now rarely used on largercomputers.

“The Open Source Development Lab will help fulfill a need thatindividual Linux and open source developers often have: access tohigh-end enterprise hardware,” said Brian Behlendorf, creator ofthe open source Web server software Apache.

Irving Wladawsky-Berger, the head of IBM’s Linux group, said thelab would help companies run hardware from different vendorstogether, as well as let run “clusters” of computers working asone.

The four main sponsors said they will contribute severalmillions of dollars to the project.

The lab is also backed by smaller companies that specialize inLinux products, like Red Hat Inc., Turbolinux Inc., Linuxcare Inc.and VA Linux Systems Inc., as well as Dell Computer Corp. andSilicon Graphics Inc.

The founding companies said the lab will be run by a nonprofitorganization that will select the software projects that gainaccess to the lab in an “open, neutral process.”

Linux is seen as an alternative to proprietary operating systemslike Microsoft’s Windows and Apple OS. Its backers say the publiclyavailable source code, or software blueprint, makes it moreflexible and reliable.

Analyst Bill Claybrook at Aberdeen Group said the projectsponsors are backing Linux because it gives them a chance toinfluence an operating system for their computers.

“These companies see that they can play a much more importantrole in developing Linux than they can in, let’s say Windows,because Microsoft pretty much decides what to put in Windows,” hesaid.