
Give it a go, says Gartner...
By Andy McCue
Published: 31 October 2006 13:00 GMT
Oracle's cut-price Unbreakable Linux will be a threat to the future of Red Hat and organisations should consider testing it on mission-critical systems, according to analyst Gartner.
Oracle is taking on Red Hat by offering support for half the price, discounts until the end of January next year and a promise to indemnify customers against Linux patent infringements.
The move has been backed by the industry's main vendors including Dell, EMC, HP, IBM and Intel, and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said the company was forced to make this move to stop Linux adoption rates suffering.
Analyst Gartner has now also backed Oracle's Unbreakable Linux move, having previously warned that Red Hat users will face increasing support and service problems as Linux-based mission-critical systems become more complex.
Want photos?
Click here to browse the full archive of our photo stories, including the first look at the Linux Greenphone.
Gartner says Oracle's move will raise questions about Red Hat's long-term future and advised Red Hat customers to start compatibility testing of an all-Oracle Linux set-up in data centres, and to consider piloting "one or two mission-critical systems", especially maximally loaded ones.
A Gartner briefing note stated: "Oracle's entry into the Linux support market will inevitably slow Red Hat's momentum and raises doubts about its long-term viability. Just as significant, Oracle has given the growing commercial open-source vendor community a wake-up call."
Red Hat customers happy with their current quality of support should renegotiate their contracts and expect to get 50 to 70 per cent discounts on list prices, while those Red Hat customers not happy with the support should consider Oracle's offering, Gartner advised.
In addition you will be required to provide in-depth technical knowledge of Red Hat Linux. Red Hat • HP ProLiant servers • TCP/IP • ...
Linux Systems Administrator RedHat Unix Administrator, Linux Administrator needed by this leading provider of eCommerce systems used globally to work ...
Are you looking for a position where you will be part of a dynamic team, developing systems and applications for mission critical systems used around ...
Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.
Stories from the web...
Copyright © 2008 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved. Top of page
Jon Collins Is losing a mobile device really such a big deal? How to minimise the damage to your business
Tim Ferguson Exclusive: Former MySQL boss Marten Mickos talks open source Why Microsoft could become one of the "biggest friends of open source" and why Oracle getting its hands on MySQL could be "one of the biggest open source coups ever"...