Daily Spin: The Truth About Open Source Routing

Tech Analysis

The Truth About Open Source Routing

The list of open source products that have had an impact on the enterprise is long and growing. Linux. Apache. Tomcat. MySQL. Firefox. Etc, etc.

But that said, there's also a leap that must be made by open source products in order to move firmly into the enterprise. Part of the issue is stability and support. That's how you end up with Red Hat. But there are larger technology and architectural issues as well. Sometimes products that work well in a small-team or personal environments never fully translate fully to the enterprise. They lack support for key technologies or protocols, fail to fit into existing management environments or come up short on key features and capabilities that the enterprise requires.

A seeming case in point is XORP, a relatively new and highly-touted open source router alternative. NWC writer David Greenfield paints an interesting story about XORP in NWC's blog today. The short story, according to David: "I think XORP is a fantastic effort. But thinking that XORP will conquer the enterprise in our lifetime is pure poppycock."Stating his case persuasively, David lays out XORP's shortcomings for the enterprise:

That's just the tip of David's argument. For IT buyers that are looking for a Linux-like impact from XORP in the router market, it may be time to think again. Get the whole story:

Why I Hate Open Source Routing

NWC's Take on the News

Here's what we think of today's breaking news. Read the story and leave your own comment. Let's see if we agree ; >

Microsoft Confirms Upgrade Feature Planned For Windows Vista Microsoft confirms that a feature called Windows Anytime Upgrade was in Vista.

NWC's Take: Speculation centers around a new feature to be called Windows Anytime Upgrade, which would enable third-party upgrades from within the OS.

New Exchange 12 Code Shows Off Clustering, Log ShippingA new beta of Exchange 12 code available Wednesday to certain Microsoft communities, will show off heretofore unannounced replication and clustering capabilities.

NWC's Take: Key advance incluedes the ability to have Exchange clusters that span WANs and multiple sites, beta testers say.

BEA Systems Buys Software Maker Fuego

BEA has acquired a business process management software maker expected to expand BEA's infrastructure products for building service-oriented architectures.

NWC's Take:Addition moves BEA up the stack from application services to business process management, a move already well underway.

McNealy Seeks HP-Sun Unix UnionJust a day before HP CEO Mark Hurd and intel CEO Paul Otellini take the stage together to detail plans for enterprise computing, Sun's CEO urges HP to work together to merge HP-UX and Solaris 10.

NWC's Take:An interesting public give-and-take. Is McNealy's offer for real, a publicity ploy or a competitive tactic?