Category Archives: Linux

Channel, Linux, Microsoft, News & Analysis, Red Hat

Microsoft Azure to become a Red Hat Enterprise Linux channel partner

redhat office logoA new Microsoft-Red Hat partnership could make hybrid cloud computing a lot easier and less binding, in a surprise move that sees Microsoft become a channel partner for an open source company.

The availability of Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux-based systems on Microsoft Azure was the key component of a joint announcement on Wednesday. Microsoft will offer Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the preferred choice for enterprise Linux workloads on Microsoft Azure.

The two vendors also announced plans to jointly tackle issues that commonly arise when enterprises, ISVs and developers try to build, install and manage applications on Red Hat software across private and public clouds.

Under the terms of the partnership Red Hat systems will be available natively to Microsoft Azure customers and Microsoft Azure will become a Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider. In return, Red Hat Cloud Access subscribers will also be able to bring their own virtual machine images to run in Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft Azure customers can now make full use of Red Hat applications such as JBoss Enterprise, JBoss Web Server, Red Hat Gluster Storage and OpenShift, Red Hat’s platform-as-a-service offering.

The two partners will jointly offer enterprise-grade support for hybrid computing set ups. The cross-platform, cross-company support will span both Microsoft and Red Hat offerings. In a new initiative, support teams from both vendors will be located on the same sites, in a bid to achieve the level of support cohesion the public cloud lacks, according to Red Hat.

The two partners will also work together to unify workload management across hybrid clouds. This will see Red Hat CloudForms interoperate with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, As a result, customers should be able to manage Red Hat Enterprise Linux on both Hyper-V and Microsoft Azure. Extra support for managing Azure workloads from Red Hat CloudForms is expected ‘in the next few months’.

There will also be a level of collaboration on .NET for a new generation of application development options, Red Hat said. Developers will have access to .NET technologies across Red Hat offerings, including Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

“The data centre is heterogeneous, and the cloud is hybrid,” said Paul Cormier, president of Products and Technologies at Red Hat. “Together, we’re offering the most comprehensive support agreement for our mixed technologies to support customers.”

Intel, Internet of Things, Linux, M2M, News & Analysis, Open Source, Wind River

Wind River announces upgraded IoT software platform

internet of things farmingEmbedded tech vendor Wind River has announced an upgraded portfolio of IoT software development tools for the internet of things (IoT).

The wholly-owned Intel subsidiary made the announcement at the Embedded Linux Conference in Dublin this week, and claimed to bring added flexibility and interoperability to its open-source platform, Wind River Linux 8. It also says it’s thrown in improved user experience and scalability for addressing IoT, stating that a combination of its virtualization services also allows customers to begin developing apps for IoT platforms within minutes of set-up and installation.

Speaking on the development of the upgraded platform, which will underpin a number of Wind River’s existing technology profiles, general manager of OS platforms Dinyar Dastoor is proud of the work the firm’s doing in driving the development of IoT.

“Wind River Linux allows customers to extract vast amounts of business intelligence and value from their data, and supports devices of all sizes, architectures and industries – from general purpose and high-performing real-time devices to carrier grade, virtualization, and highly secure military applications,” he said. “With the latest version of Wind River Linux and our updated Open Virtualization profile, we are delivering a versatile and robust Linux offering to the market that is ideally suited for the development if IoT devices.”

Wind River’s Linux platform is born out of the Linux Foundation’s Yocto Project, a hardware-agnostic an open-source collaboration project designed to provide templates, tools and methodologies for implementing tailored Linux systems on any embedded product – hypothetically ideal for IoT products, software and infrastructures. Jim Zemlin, the Linux Foundation’s executive director, is looking forward to the company’s continued participation with the project, based on its extensive contribution thus far – Wind River has so far contributed more than one third of the lines of code used by Yocto.

“Wind River continues to do important work with the Linux community, as well as foster open-source innovation,” he said. “We look forward to the company’s ongoing contributions to the Yocto Project, and their market success with products like Wind River Linux.”

Visit Europe’s leading IoT event – Internet of Things World Europe – in Berlin on 5 – 7 October 2015

IBM, Infrastructure as a Service, Jim Zemlin, Linux, mainframes, News & Analysis, server, Tom Rosamilia

IBM announces Linux mainframe app development cloud

IBM is trying to keep mainframes relevant in the cloud era

IBM is trying to keep mainframes relevant in the cloud era

IBM is open sourcing a large set of Linux mainframe code and launching the LinuxONE Developer Cloud, a cloud-based platform for developers to create applications for a Linux server based on the mainframe.

The LinuxONE Developer Cloud, which will be deployed in select IBM datacentres globally, will provide developers access to a cloud-based development, piloting and testing environment for Linux-based mainframe workloads.

The move coincides with the company’s launch of a portfolio of Linux mainframe services, called LinuxONE, that IBM says are optimised to run cloud-native workloads like Dockerized apps and NoSQL databases.

“Fifteen years ago IBM surprised the industry by putting Linux on the mainframe, and today more than a third of IBM mainframe clients are running Linux,” said Tom Rosamilia, senior vice president, IBM Systems.

“We are deepening our commitment to the open source community by combining the best of the open world with the most advanced system in the world in order to help clients embrace new mobile and hybrid cloud workloads. Building on the success of Linux on the mainframe, we continue to push the limits beyond the capabilities of commodity servers that are not designed for security and performance at extreme scale,” Rosamilia said.

As part of the move the company is contributing tens of thousands of lines of code to the recently created Open Mainframe Project, formed by the Linux Foundation to optimise Linux deployments on mainframes.

“Linux on the mainframe has reached a critical mass such that vendors, users and academia need a neutral forum where they can work together to advance Linux tools and technologies and increase enterprise innovation,” said Jim Zemlin, the Linux Foundation executive director.

“The Open Mainframe Project is a direct response to the demands of Linux users and the supporting open source ecosystem to address unique features and requirements built into mainframes for security, availability and performance,” Zemlin said.

Linux, Parallels Business Solutions, Parallels RAS, Parallels RDP, Parallels Remote Application Server, RAS, RDP, Remote Application Server, RemoteFX

Parallels RDP for Linux Now Supports RemoteFX

Parallels has recently released the latest version of Parallels RDP Client for Linux, with important improvement on usability. It now allows users to watch videos and run 3D applications with performance close to a native desktop experience. In addition, Parallels RDP Client for Linux now supports RemoteFX. RemoteFX is a set of protocols for Microsoft’s Remote […]

The post Parallels RDP for Linux Now Supports RemoteFX appeared first on Parallels Blog.

Channel, Linux, Mark Enzweiler, Michael Ferris, News & Analysis, Red Hat

Red Hat beefs up cloud partner programme as ecosystem broadens

Red Hat is broadening its cloud partner programme

Red Hat is broadening its cloud partner programme

Red Hat is replacing its existing cloud provider programme with a revamped one it claims will help provide better support for distributors, managed service providers and systems integrators. The company said the move was in response to what it sees as a broadening ecosystem of partnerships in cloud.

The “Certified Cloud and Service Provider” programme will replace the existing “Certified Cloud Provider” initiative and broaden the types of members included. The company will  certify and provide technical support to vendors as well as service providers offering Red Hat-based cloud services for any type of cloud deployment.

The company said the move was driven in part by the continued adoption of newer technologies and platforms like PaaS and Linux containers, and the broadening of the ecosystem of potential partners.

“Much like enterprise IT itself, the world of cloud computing is constantly evolving, especially with the growing promise of hybrid cloud approaches and Linux container-based architectures,” said Michael Ferris, senior director, Business Architecture, Red Hat.

“The Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider program is designed to encompass nearly all service provider models, spanning the public cloud to on-site managed services, offering our customers a secure, stable and trusted partner ecosystem upon which to build their next-generation IT projects using Red Hat solutions.”

Red Hat said the revamped programme will launch with about 13 of the 15 service providers recognised in Gartner’s oft-cited Magic Quadrant, and has grown close to 60 per cent from the previous year. The company has close to 50 cloud providers signed up to the programme so far.

Mark Enzweiler, senior vice president, Global Partners and Alliances, Red Hat said: “The Certified Cloud and Service Provider program is an important next step for one of Red Hat’s key channels. Our partners want to develop their businesses based on enterprise-ready open source technologies, and this global program delivers new opportunities for recurring revenue to a diverse set of participating partners to expand their business with Red Hat.”

BitTorrent Sync, DropBox, File synchronization, Internet Technology, Linux, Storage

BitTorrent Sync Aims to Replace Cloud With Peer-to-Peer for File Synchronization

The folks responsible for peer-to-peer downloads of (mostly) appropriated music and videos are in pre-alpha with BitTorrent Sync, which aims straight at Dropbox and its ilk for multi-device file synchronization. They are looking for early testers and promise native clients for Windows, OS X and Linux, with hints of smartphone support.

Today, BitTorrent Sync is in a pre-Alpha stage. And we’re hoping that users like you can help us build something sick. If you’re comfortable using early, incomplete software, and if you’re committed to helping us figure out a better way to sync, we want to hear from you.

If you are interested, sign up here.

 

Consulting, Database, Linux, MySQL, NoSQL, Open Source, PostgreSQL

Bull Services Facilitate Adoption of Open Source PostgreSQL

Bull HN Information Systems is rolling out IT support services with the launch of its MOVE IT (Modernize, Optimize, Virtualize and Economize Information Technology) campaign to showcase products and services that it recently announced and plans to announce in the future. These products and services help customers derive maximum value from their legacy IT investments and get the most out of their IT operations while opening enterprise data to the cloud and mobile devices.

Bull’s newest MOVE IT service offerings are PostgreSQL support subscriptions; database design and build assessments; database performance and tuning services; and forms and reports migration services. These service offerings support migration to PostgreSQL—recognized as the world’s most advanced open source database—enabling organizations to reduce costs and open enterprise data to the cloud and virtualized environments.

According to Bull’s Data Migration Business Unit Director Jim Ulrey, “MOVE IT services and software help free companies from high licensing and maintenance costs, and offer both dramatic operational efficiencies and the agility required to flourish in competitive business environments.

“We developed MOVE IT enterprise solutions including database migration services, software and our newest support services to meet the needs of IT departments that prefer to manage work internally, as well as those that prefer to outsource—whether due to skill sets, resources or project objectives,” concluded Ulrey.

Bull’s MOVE IT products and services work effectively standalone by providing solutions to specific challenges, and they’re also engineered to work together to provide enterprise IT clients with multiple benefits. From cost-saving database migrations from Oracle to flexible open source PostgreSQL, to LiberTP™ software to migrate transaction-processing applications, Bull’s solutions open enterprise data to modern environments that support the cloud, virtualized environments and mobile devices. Most importantly, Bull can help free companies from high licensing and maintenance costs, offer dramatic operational efficiencies and the agility required to flourish in competitive business environments.


Education, High Performance Computing, HPC, Indiana University, Linux, Memphis University, Penguin Computing, University of Delaware, University of Virginia

Penguin Computing Offers HPC Compute Clouds Built for Academia, Research

Penguin Computing today announced partnerships with multiple universities to enable easy, quick and unbureaucratic on-demand access to scalable HPC compute resources for academic researchers.

“Penguin Computing has traditionally been very successful with HPC deployments in academic environments with widely varying workloads, many departments competing for resources and very limited budgets for capital expenses, a cloud based model for compute resources makes perfect sense,” says Tom Coull, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Software and Services at Penguin Computing. “The new partnerships help academic institutions with a flexible cloud based resource allocation for their researchers. At the same time, they present an opportunity for IT departments to create an ongoing revenue stream by offering researchers from other schools access to their cloud.”

Penguin has implemented three versions of academic HPC clouds:

Hybrid Clouds – Which are a local ‘on-site’ cluster configured to support the use of Penguin-on-Demand (POD) cloud resources as needed on a pay-as-you go basis. Local compute resources can be provisioned for average demand and utilization peaks can be offloaded transparently. This model lowers the initial capital expense and for temporary workload peaks excess cycles are provided cost effectively by Penguin’s public HPC cloud. Examples of hybrid cloud deployments include the University of Delaware and Memphis University.

Channel Partnership – Between Universities and Penguin Computing, allow educational institutions to become distributors for POD compute cycles. University departments with limited access to compute resources for research can use Penguin’s virtual supercomputer on-demand and pay-as-they-go, allowing them to use their IT budget for operational expenses. When departments use the university’s HPC cloud, revenue can supplement funding for IT staff or projects, increasing the department’s capabilities. This model has been successfully implemented at the California Institute for Technology in conjunction with Penguin’s PODshell, a web-service based solution that supports the submission and monitoring of HPC cloud compute jobs from any Linux system with internet connectivity.

Combination Hybrid / Channel – The Benefits of the first two models have been successfully implemented at Indiana University (IU) as a public-private partnership. Penguin leverages the University’s HPC facilities and human resources while IU benefits from fast access to local compute resources and Penguin’s HPC experience. IU can use POD resources and provide compute capacity to other academic institutions. The agreement between IU and Penguin also has the support of a group of founding user-partners including the University of Virginia, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan who along with IU will be users of the new service. The POD collocation offers access through the high-speed national research network internet2 and is integrated with the XSEDE infrastructure that enables scientists to transparently share computing resources.

“This is a great example of a community cloud service,” said Brad Wheeler, vice president for information technology and CIO at Indiana University. “By working together in a productive private-public partnership, we can achieve cost savings through larger scales while also ensuring security and managing the terms of service in the interests of researchers.”

For more information about Penguin Computing’s HPC compute resources, please visit www.penguincomputing.com.


Linux, Open Source, Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Red Hat Delivers Advanced Tooling, Community Resources to Software Developers

Image representing Red Hat as depicted in Crun...

Red Hat, Inc. today announced it has expanded its Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Program with enhancements to its Developer Suite, including a new toolset for software developers worldwide. Through the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Suite, Red Hat delivers the latest, stable open source developer tool versions at an accelerated cadence than that of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Developers now have access to a robust suite of tools with synchronized availability on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShiftTM, allowing developers to deploy applications freely to either environment.

“For Linux programmers, having ready access to the latest, stable development tools is key to taking advantage of new Linux advancements,” said Jim Totton, vice president and general manager, Platform Business Unit, Red Hat, Inc. “The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Program makes it easy for developers to access industry-leading developer tools, instructional resources and an ecosystem of experts to help Linux programmers maximize productivity in building great Red Hat Enterprise Linux applications.”

Designed for many types of Linux developers, including Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), software solution providers, Systems Integrators (SIs), enterprise, and government software developers, the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Suite enhances developer productivity and improves time to deployment by providing affordable access and updates to essential development tools. The latest, stable tooling can be used to develop applications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux whether on-premise or off-premise in physical, virtual and cloud deployments, and on OpenShift, the leading open Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS).

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Suite includes:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux, variants, and related Add-On software for
    development use including Red Hat Enterprise Linux, High-Availability
    Add-On, Load Balancer Add-On, Resilient Storage Add-On, Scalable File
    System Add-On, High-Performance Network Add-On, Extended Update
    Support, and MRG Real Time and Smart Management Add-on.
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer toolset, a collection of
    development tools to create highly scalable applications. Delivered as
    part of the Developer Suite, Red Hat plans to accelerate the release
    cadence of these tools to deliver the latest, stable open source
    developer tool versions on a separate life cycle from Red Hat
    Enterprise Linux releases.

The first version of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Suite includes a toolset that makes developing Linux software applications faster and easier by allowing users to compile once and deploy to multiple versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Using the developer toolset, software developers can now develop Linux applications using the latest C and C++ upstream tools. These tools include the latest GNU Compiler Collection (GCC 4.7) with support for C and C++; the latest version of the GNU Project Debugger (GDB 7.4) with improvements to aid the debugging of applications; and the GNU binutils collection of binary developer tools, version 2.22, for the creation and management of Linux applications.

“The velocity of development is as high today as it has ever been, which means that developers are putting a premium on a toolchain that is current from libraries to compiler,” said Stephen O’Grady, Principal Analyst with RedMonk. “With its expanded Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Program and toolset, Red Hat aims to provide developers with just that.”

The self-supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Suite and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Support Subscriptions are available immediately worldwide. Red Hat customers and partners can join the developer online user group on Red Hat’s award-winning customer portal to access the extensive knowledgebase and recommended practices.