UnitedLinux Operating System

Transcription

1 Mary I. Hubley, Cynthia R. Lubrano Product Report 20 February 2003 UnitedLinux Operating System Summary UnitedLinux was created by a group of Linux vendors SuSE Linux AG, The SCO Group, Conectiva S.A. and Turbolinux to provide a Linux distribution with uniform development and certification. Table of Contents Overview Analysis Pricing Competitors Strengths Limitations Recommended Gartner Research Insight List Of Tables Table 1: Features/Functions UnitedLinux 1.0 Table 2: UnitedLinux: Price List Gartner Reproduction of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The reader assumes sole responsibility for the selection of these materials to achieve its intended results. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

2 Corporate Headquarters UnitedLinux 401 Edgewater Place, Suite 600 Wakefield, MA 01880, U.S.A. Tel: Fax: Internet: Overview UnitedLinux was designed by a group of Linux vendors to streamline their development and certification around a single Linux version. This server operating system combines technologies from each of its founding members. Released in November 2002, UnitedLinux is based on a wide variety of standards so that developers can design software that is portable across Linux platforms. UnitedLinux is a server operating system intended for Linux s primary growth areas for enterprise and Web server applications. UnitedLinux provides developers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with the tools to support a single version of Linux, instead of the four diverging editions previously sold by the participating Linux vendors. Conectiva, SuSE Linux, The SCO Group and Turbolinux will all sell the underlying UnitedLinux operating system, but distinguish themselves from one another through their own look and feel, valueadded extensions (such as management software) and each company targeting somewhat different world regions. UnitedLinux is scalable to handle server configurations with increased processors, tasks, threads and users. As such, it supports asynchronous input/output for busy systems and methods to enhance process scheduling on symmetric multiprocessors (SMPs) and can be used to build server farms for workload management. For high availability, UnitedLinux supports Posix-compliant event logging and notification, dynamic probes for profiling and debugging, hot-plug PCI support, and record- and event-tracing mechanisms. It also provides a variety of security features, such as Kerberos network authentication and basic firewall configuration. At the foundation of UnitedLinux is a core set of components, including the Linux kernel , GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) 3.2, glibc 2.2.5, K Desktop Environment (KDE) 3.0 and XFree The Linux kernel includes several hundred patches. In January 2003, UnitedLinux issued its first service pack, with enhancements geared for telecommunications companies. The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) 1.1 feature set for UnitedLinux 1.0 includes the capabilities to develop and deploy carrier-grade, modular applications for Linux. The feature set is designed for gateway, operating and business support, signaling and management, and wireless systems. Table 1: Features/Functions UnitedLinux 1.0 Overview Vendors Platform Support A standards-based Linux server operating system that is designed for the business user. Designed by four Linux vendors: Conectiva, SCO, SuSE and Turbolinux. AMD 32- and 64-bit; Intel x86, IA64 and x86-64; and IBM iseries, pseries and zseries. 20 February

3 Table 1: Features/Functions UnitedLinux 1.0 Standards Compliant with the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS), the Linux Standards Base (LSB) 1.2 and the OpenI18N internationalization specification. Linux Kernel Linux Core Components UnitedLinux identifies the following as its core operating system components: LSB 1.2 runtime environment (all libraries, commands and interfaces) Free fonts and input methods glibc 2.25 and higher Firewall tools (ipchains, iptables, masquerading) GNU Network Object Model Environment (GNOME) 2.0 libraries Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) Java runtime KDE 3.0 libraries Networking tools (nslookup, ping, traceroute) Postgresql Remote boot pre-execution environment (PXE), Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) and others Remote shell tools secure shell (ssh), secure copy (scp) Scripting languages Perl, PHP Hypertext Processor (PHP), Python, Ruby, tool command language/tk Toolkit(TCL/TK) Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Standard Linux and Unix shells (bash, csh, ksh) XFree X print services Memory Capacities Uses the Intel Physical Address Extension to support up to 64GB of physical RAM and 4GB of virtual addressing space per process. Enterprise-Oriented Automated installation Computing Features Direct input/output (I/O) Directory services (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol 3 [LDAP3]) High availability Hyper-threading Installation methods local CD-ROM, local hard disk partition, Network File System (NFS)-mounted directory IPv6 Large memory support Logical Volume Manager Memory Expansion Technology (MXT) Next Generation Posix Threading (NGPT) Posix asynchronous I/O (AIO) Raw I/O SNMP File Systems Boot File System (BFS) (UnixWare), Ext2, Ext3, file allocation table/virtual file allocation table (FAT/VFAT) (MS DOS and Windows 9x), Hierarchical File System (HFS) (Macintosh), Journaled File System (JFS), NT File System (NTFS) (Windows NT), ReiserFS, SysV (SCO/Xenix), Unix File System (UFS) (Berkeley Software Distribution [BSD] and derivatives), X File System (XFS) and others. 20 February

4 Table 1: Features/Functions UnitedLinux 1.0 Interoperability Development Environment Web Servers Internet/Intranet Connection Servers Mail/News Servers Authentication Servers File and Print Database Security Language Support Interoperates with Windows Server Message Block (SMB) networks and Novell networks. Compatibility with many standard Unix network services and protocols, including Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND), Domain Naming System (DNS), network information service (NIS), Sun Microsystems NFS and TCP/IP. C (gcc), C++ (g++), gdb, diff, GNU automake and autoconf, GNU binutils, lex (flex), Java, libtool, patch, Perl, Python, Ruby, Tck/Tk, yacc (bison). Apache Web server, Apache extension modules, PHP, PHP extensions, Tomcat. BIND, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server and client, DNS, FTP, TFTP, Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS) (Samba). Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Post Office Protocol (POP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) (sendmail). Kerberos 5, NIS, OpenLDAP, Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) modules. Mac (netatalk), Windows (Samba 2.2.4), Unix (common Unix printing system [CUPS] with line printer [LPR] symlinks and NFS server). PostgreSQL and MySQL. Various authentication methods, cryptography, firewalling, Kerberos, PAM, Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL), smart card, X.509. English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese and Spanish. Analysis Linux acceptance continues to grow. According Gartner Dataquest, global Linux server revenue increased by 65 percent from the third quarter 2001 to the same period in While the overall vendor server market decreased slightly (2.9 percent) on a worldwide basis, Linux s growth persists. Once used for small-scale business serving, Linux is increasingly being used for larger and more complex computing applications. To better compete in the growing Linux market, four Linux distributors SuSE, Conectiva, The SCO Group (formerly Caldera) and Turbolinux pooled their development and research resources to create UnitedLinux, which was introduced in November Major IT companies, including AMD, Borland, Computer Associates, Hewlett-Packard (HP), IBM, Intel, NEC, Oracle and SAP, support the UnitedLinux initiative. Software companies like Borland (developer tools), IBM (Database 2 [DB2] and WebSphere) Oracle (database management system [DBMS]), Progress Software (DBMS), SAP (business suite) and Ximian (software management) are all working to certify their products with UnitedLinux. The UnitedLinux consortium has extended an invitation to other Linux vendors to join its efforts, but thus far, membership is limited to the original four. UnitedLinux places its four vendors in a better competitive position against the over 180 other mostly small and localized Linux distributors around the world. It also has the potential to be a viable second choice to the market s largest Linux supplier, Red Hat. While the UnitedLinux vendors hope to slow down some of Red Hat s momentum, UnitedLinux is unlikely to unseat Red Hat. This is because each of the UnitedLinux vendors is dealing with profitability or product positioning difficulties, and the installed base of all four Linux distributors does not approach Red Hat s large market share. SuSE already has the most visibility of the Red Hat competitors; it is popular in Europe, as well as in the U.S. Now, though, as a cooperative entity, UnitedLinux extends each of the founding members market reach to areas not previously available to the four individual vendors. UnitedLinux is the only Linux entity other than Red Hat that can attract a global market. 20 February

5 While UnitedLinux offers a viable competitive balance in the market, the group is still new and just starting to ramp up its marketing efforts. Gartner does not foresee it making a big impact before 2005, as it will take at least that long to achieve a strong community of independent software vendors (ISVs) and applications on certified hardware platforms. For UnitedLinux to attract a following, potential users need to be able to easily identify what software will run on the operating system. Thus, UnitedLinux needs to publish a comprehensive catalog and maintain updates on all the software qualified and tested, along with meeting the LSB specifications. Differentiating Between UnitedLinux Vendors While the four participating vendors offer the same base UnitedLinux operating system, they do differentiate themselves. One differentiating factor is that they are based in, and cater to, different world markets. SuSE is best known in Europe, SCO is a U.S. vendor, Turbolinux specializes in Asian markets, and Conectiva focuses on Latin American countries. Since the companies are focused on different portions of the world, the group insists that competition between the allies is not an issue. However, overlap exists, which could lead to competitive issues in the future. For instance, SCO is based in and concentrates on the U.S., although it also has a presence in Europe, while SuSE concentrates on Europe, but also has a major presence the U.S. Locale is not the only way the UnitedLinux vendors distinguish themselves. They also offer add-ons. UnitedLinux distributors have the flexibility to add options, their own look-and-feel, local language, support and other distinguishing features on supplementary CDs. For example, a UnitedLinux vendor distribution may come bundled with four CDs three UnitedLinux-branded CDs and one CD with features and software that are unique to that vendor. Profiles of the four UnitedLinux vendors are below: SuSE Linux SuSE s Linux Enterprise Server was the basis of the UnitedLinux implementation. While all the partners equally contributed to the development of UnitedLinux in different ways, SuSE contributed the most personnel to the development task. UnitedLinux s release of SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 coincided with the delivery of UnitedLinux. It is meant for business-critical applications like database, e- commerce and storage, as well as for file, print, security and Web services. SuSE Linux Enterprise Server uses a uniform code base for a range of hardware platforms, including AMD 32/64-bit, Fujitsu Siemens Primergy, HP Itanium 2 and ProLiant, IBM eserver (xseries, iseries, pseries and zseries) and Intel 32- and 64-bit servers. SuSE concentrates on companies with 100 employees or more. Based in Germany, it is the leading Linux supplier in Europe and is generating increasing enthusiasm in the U.S. The SCO Group SCO announced the release of SCO Linux 4.0, Powered by UnitedLinux, in coordination with the UnitedLinux introduction in November Based on UnitedLinux 1.0, SCO Linux 4.0 is designed for small-to-midsize businesses and replicated branch sites (for example, banks, hotel chains and retail stores). The operating system is backed by SCO s extensive value-added reseller (VAR) and support network, with operations in 82 countries. SCO Linux 4.0 Server, Powered by UnitedLinux, is available in four editions: Base (update maintenance service), Classic (unlimited installation/configuration technical support for one year, update service, designation technical support contacts, online services), Business (unlimited technical support incidents for one year and above services) and Enterprise (in addition to the above services, includes 24 7 afterhours emergency service telephone support). In August 2002, Caldera International changed its name to The SCO Group. The new name is intended to capitalize on the brand recognition and a new focus on its SCO Unix product lines that it attained when it was part of its old company, the Santa Cruz Operation. Prior to the acquisition of the SCO product lines, 20 February

6 almost all of Caldera s revenue was derived from sales of Linux products and related services. Now, however, over 95 percent of SCO s total revenue is derived from Unix-related products and services. The acquisition has not been profitable, and revenue has been declining. SCO needs to work to integrate its acquisitions and build brand awareness for its Linux distribution around the SCO name. Turbolinux Turbolinux has always maintained a focus on the Asian market and carved out its niche in countries like China and Japan. According to a company spokesperson, Turbolinux has an installed base of more than 500,000 in these Asian countries. The company was sold to Software Research Associates in 2002, a move that spurred layoffs and restructuring, but also immediately infused it with much-needed financial backing. It also refocused the company s efforts on the Asian market. In December 2002, the company released Turbolinux Enterprise Server 8, Powered by UnitedLinux. At the time of this writing, that product was only available in Japan. The present U.S. version of Turbolinux Enterprise Server 8 offers 64GB memory support, large file support (up to 2GB), Logical Volume Manager (LVM), JFS, 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) library and 32-way symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) capabilities. Conectiva S.A. Based in Brazil, Conectiva markets its Linux offerings to users and businesses in Latin America, primarily aimed at the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking audience. Conectiva specializes in service, development and distribution of Linux systems for the Latin American region. It has a large network of service companies, training and consulting partners that are located throughout the region. Conectiva targets corporate, educational and government markets. In November 2002, the company issued Conectiva Linux Enterprise Server, Powered by UnitedLinux. It is offered in basic, standard and master editions. Pricing Table 2: UnitedLinux: Price List Product Price SCO Linux 4.0 Server, Powered by UnitedLinux (Base Edition) $599 SCO Linux 4.0 (Classic Edition) $699 SCO Linux 4.0 Server (Business Edition) $1,249 SCO Linux 4.0 Server (Enterprise Edition) $2,199 Turbolinux Enterprise Server 8 Basic, Powered by UnitedLinux Turbolinux Enterprise Server 8 Advanced, Powered by UnitedLinux $749 $1,299 SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8, Powered by UnitedLinux $749 Conectiva Linux Enterprise Edition, Powered by UnitedLinux (Basic) $705 Conectiva Linux (Standard) $1,193 Conectiva Linux (Master) $2,386 GSA Pricing No. Competitors Although SuSE, SCO, Conectiva and Turbolinux are all founders of the UnitedLinux initiative with a common goal, it would be naive to think that no competition exists between these vendors. But the perceived competition between one another is small compared to that of Red Hat Software. Red Hat is 20 February

7 acknowledged as the premier supplier of Linux operating system software, with a clear lead in market share. The overall combined market share of the four UnitedLinux companies does not even approach Red Hat s. Nonetheless, UnitedLinux is an attempt for Conectiva, SCO, SuSE and Turbolinux to boost their combined market presence in the shadow of Red Hat. In addition to Red Hat, UnitedLinux also competes with other Linux distributions, although the companies in the rest of the pack are generally smaller and regionally based. As a server operating system, UnitedLinux also competes outside of the Linux world. Competition comes from Unix products like HP HP- UX, IBM AIX and Sun Microsystems Solaris, as well as Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP servers. Strengths Compatibility Between Versions There remains a deficiency of viable business applications available for Linux. One of the problems is that there are too many inconsistencies between too many distributions. Developers do not want to support or write to several incompatible versions of the operating system because it is not as easy as simply loading an application onto any of the versions of Linux and hoping it will run. Over 180 different Linux versions on the market are all different they have different libraries and are based on different kernel versions. And depending on the distribution, files might have to be placed into different folders. With UnitedLinux, the participating Linux vendors provide common CDs that have a common base system that includes the kernel, libraries and installation software. Thus, ISVs are able to write to and support their software to all the UnitedLinux vendors implementations at one time. This makes UnitedLinux an easy second choice for developers who want to support another Linux version in addition to Red Hat. Standards Compliance UnitedLinux conforms to nearly all Linux and Unix standards, including the LSB 1.2 and the Open I18N2000 localization and internationalization specification, both of which were created by the Free Standards Group. This group concentrates on the internationalization of a core set of application programming interfaces (APIs) and components so that a common Linux environment can be used globally. The UnitedLinux architecture also supports such development, graphical, networking and security standards such as DNS, FHS, FTP, GNOME, IPv6, Java, KDE, Kerberos, LDAP, IPv6, IMAP, POP and SMTP. Limitations Competition Between Allies? The UnitedLinux founding members have established a presence within their own markets. And the collective group vows to not interfere with one another s sales and marketing efforts. However, each of the companies has its own marketing approach, and it may be tricky as time evolves to maintain harmony and not tread on each other s space. Even now, competition exists for instance, The SCO Group conducts its business primarily in the U.S., but competes with SuSE in Europe. SuSE also markets in the U.S. Red Hat s Dominance Red Hat is by far the largest Linux distributor, with a growing server business and the widest international recognition. With Red Hat Advanced Server, the company has already established itself within corporate walls. UnitedLinux is new, so it is still ramping up. It has yet to prove it can quickly attract increasing ISV interest, and its vendors must be able to provide dependable releases and support. Further, Red Hat has name recognition. UnitedLinux faces marketing challenges with a name that will be hidden referenced 20 February

8 after the vendors product names as the tag line Powered by UnitedLinux. UnitedLinux will have difficulty trying to draw the same level of application support and end-user enthusiasm as Red Hat. Recommended Gartner Research SCO OpenLinux Operating System, DPRO Turbolinux, Inc. Turbolinux Operating System, DPRO SuSE Linux Operating System, DPRO Insight The Linux industry is changing. While Red Hat still dominates, there has been a plethora of other smaller Linux vendors in a market with too many versions and too few consistencies between the operating system distributions. To help them gain a competitive edge, four of the better-known Linux vendors collaborated. The result is UnitedLinux, one base version of Linux, offered by Conectiva, SCO, SuSE and Turbolinux. During the next couple of years, the four principals must learn how to collaborate without overtly competing, while trying to dent Red Hat s dominant market position. Gartner does not expect any real impact from the group before 2005, as it will take at least that long to achieve a strong community of ISVs and applications on certified hardware platforms. But UnitedLinux does provide an important competitive balance in the market against the fragmentation of 180 odd distributions and a single vendor (Red Hat) dominating this market. 20 February