Data Center Gets Linux Lift

BakBone Software Inc. (Toronto: BKB) has hitched a ride on the IT industrys Open Source express, a move that looks to tap into the trend of users clamoring for tried and tested Linux products in the data center.

BakBone, which supplies users with data protection software for backup and disaster recovery, is following in the footsteps of some of IT's big names by teaming up with the Open Source Development Labs Inc., a global consortium dedicated to boosting Linux adoption. Other firms involved with the group inludeIBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), and Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) (NYSE: CA).

Mark Blowers, senior research analyst at Butler Group, believes the move spells good news for users’ data center strategies: “The data center is very important to end-users and the fact that another company has joined the OSDL gives users confidence that vendors are moving in the same direction.”

As well as pushing Linux further into the enterprise, BakBone expects some rewards of its own. Sean Jackson, European marketing director at BakBone, says, "OSDL will give us the ability to reach more businesses that are using Linux and also greater access to more companies that are developing applications for the Linux platform."

However, Jackson was keen to point out that BakBone is no Linux-come-lately, noting that "we have supported Linux from the start -- our core NetVault software product was initially developed on Linux and then ported over to Windows."Linux use in the data center is expected to be one of the hot technology topics of 2004. Forrester Research predicts that, by the end of 2004, close to 10 percent of Global 2,000 companies will have migrated from Windows servers to Linux for their basic network operating system infrastructure.

Increasingly, end-users are looking for proven Linux applications in their data centers, according to OSDL CEO Stuart Cohen. He says, “The momentum for Linux in the data center is prompting customers to demand a high level of guarantee for deploying mission-critical applications on Linux.”

Even IBM’s ongoing legal wrangle with The SCO Group over Linux has apparently done little to slow the march of open source. Blowers says, “Obviously there is an element of risk, but it is a minimal one -- I am not certain that it is putting anyone off adopting Linux in the data center.”

Last month, OSDL released a blueprint reference document for Linux use in the data center. The document deals with issues such as standards, scaleability, security, and usability.

James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-gen Data Center Forum0