Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Hits the Street

IBM and Red Hat are also collaborating to deliver a new Real-Time Linux application development and deployment platform offering customers the ability to run systems that can perform at increased processing rates with high levels of reliability.

The new platform includes IBM WebSphere Real Time, a real-time J2SE (Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition) Java Virtual Machine, with a real-time version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 running on IBM System x and BladeCenter AMD- and Intel-based servers.

"This new computing infrastructure also provides a broad community of Java programmers with the ability to develop applications that can execute and provide predictable to millisecond granularity execution times," Frye said.

A new service relationship is under development at Red Hat. Click here to read more.

The U.S. Navy is an early adopter of IBMs Real-Time Java technology running on a customized "Real-Time Linux" deployed by IBM, Raytheon and Red Hat and is taking advantage of a single and open standards-based computing environment for applications ranging from command-and-control, navigation, targeting, weapons control and radar systems.

"This first-of-its kind deployment will aid the Navys efforts to cut the cost of developing and maintaining traditionally expensive real-time applications so it can speed development of mission-critical combatant systems," Frye said.

IBM is currently offering WebSphere Real-Time 1.0 running on a customized RHEL 4 environment to other interested early adopters in the government, financial and telecommunications sectors.

IBM will continue to work with Red Hat and members of the open-source community worldwide on improving kernel performance through a SystemTap toolkit, which offers performance tuning and system debugging features. The companies are also working on Samba, kernel scalability, customer testing and numerous ongoing technology projects, Frye said.

But Novells Steinmann points out that most IT managers want a complete operating system platform, with solutions from the desktop to the data center, so they can leverage management tools and people skills.

"Red Hat is basically ignoring the desktop, while SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop continues to sign new customers, like our 20,000 desktop deployment at Peugeot Citroen," he said.

Read here about how some PCs will now be available preloaded with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.

Novell also firmly believes there are going to be just two dominant operating systems in the data center by 2010: Linux and Windows, and that its offering is the best bet on the Linux front.

"The recent partnership between Novell and Microsoft is focused on interoperability between Linux and Windows. Were offering the market a choice: the Linux operating system that works well with Windows—SUSE—or the one that does not—Red Hat," he said.

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