Red Hat debuts more scalable Linux
ERDAS Inc. has had its ERDAS IMAGINE 8.4 geographic information system certified to run on Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows 2000 operating system.
Red Hat Inc. launched a new version of its Linux operating system this week
that is designed to let the open-source operating system handle bigger workloads,
potentially a big selling point for agencies concerned about the system's
scalability.
Red Hat Linux 6.2 features load-balancing technology the company calls
"Piranha." The aim of the technology is to allow multiple small World Wide
Web servers to behave like one larger Web server, said Michael Tiemann,
the company's chief technology officer. That makes it especially useful
for growing e-commerce systems.
The new version also uses the Beowulf open-source clustering software.
And the clustering features can now be administered by a new Web-based management
console. Besides offering greater scalability, the ability to run on clusters
of servers also makes the OS more reliable, because it can switch to another
server in the event one server fails.
Version 6.2 is available now and comes in three editions. The Professional
Edition, priced at $179.95, includes the most extensive help desk support
services and add-on applications. The Deluxe Edition costs $79.95. And the
Standard Edition costs $29.95.
— Weil is senior U.S. correspondent for IDG News Service
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