IBM and Red Hat to Add Innovations in Linux Kernel

By Niladri Sekhar Nath

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

In a bid to help customers improve efficiency, IBM (News - Alert) and Red Hat have declared that developers at the companies' Linux labs have joined forces to integrate new technologies in the Linux kernel. Developers at IBM's Linux Technology Center and Red Hat's (News - Alert) Engineering team will combine improved virtualization features, security enhancements, and "Real-Time Linux" capabilities into the Linux kernel.

 

IBM, Red Hat and the open community have integrated open source Xen virtualization software with the Linux kernel in addition to hardening the Xen hypervisor. Xen is open source virtualization software helping customers increase server utilization and more efficiently manage Linux-based IT systems. The technologies will be incorporated into Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and supported by IBM's Virtualization portfolio of products running on Intel (News - Alert) and Opteron processor-based servers and IBM BladeCenter systems.

 

IBM customer ServerCave will also be a valuable addition to Linux kernel. ServerCave is a website hosting and data center management company catering to individuals and SMB customers. The technology will enhance server utilization rates from 10 percent to nearly 80 percent running Linux-based IBM x3550 systems taking advantage of Xen virtualization capabilities. What’s more, ServerCave will reduce new hardware acquisition for its hosted and managed customers by 75 percent.

 

"IBM's Linux Technology Center is an incubator for technology innovation, and ultimately for business transformation," said Daniel Frye, vice president, Open Systems Development, IBM. "We're continuing to work with Red Hat and the open source community to drive innovative technologies into the Linux kernel to offer customers the efficient, cost-effective production environment they need to gain a competitive edge in their own industries."

 

IBM and Red Hat developers will set up Security-Enhanced Linux into Red Hat's core operating system to provide Multi-Level Security capabilities. These capabilities help enterprise customers create a mandatory access control policy that allows information to be classified as top secret, secret, confidential and unclassified.

 

"The upcoming release of our enterprise platform signifies much more that just an upgrade to Linux, it is the culmination of a complete enterprise architecture that includes a broad ecosystem of certified, reliable solutions from partners like IBM," said Paul Cormier, Executive Vice President of Engineering at Red Hat. "We continue our heritage of close collaboration with customers and partners to deliver a highly relevant technology platform that delivers on performance and value."