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Open Source Faithful, Major Vendors Gear Up For LinuxWorld: Page 3 of 4

Storage Computer, another LinuxWorld exhibitor, said Thursday that it had launched its CyberNAS 64/Cluster network attached storage (NAS) software, and would showcase the new Linux storage clustering package at the expo. The software, which will be demonstrated on servers running AMD's 64-bit Opteron processors, supports up to 300 storage nodes and can be scaled up to total capacity of 9 terabytes, said Storage Computer.

While Microsoft will be at LinuxWorld touting its Windows Services for Unix (SFU) 3.5 -- tools which allow developers to recompile Linux and Unix applications to run on Windows platforms such as Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP -- smaller fish will also swim with Microsoft at the show.

StarNet, for example, on Thursday announced Desktop-X 2.0, a utility that works in conjunction with SFU 3.5 to display X Windows applications on Windows-based PCs. The utility automatically boots whenever an X Windows app is launched on a PC drawing the application from a Windows Server 2003 hosting ported Unix software. Pricing starts at $99 per user, with volume discounts available, said StarNet.

Other vendors planning to put new products on the exhibit floor include Aspen Systems, which will introduce a new Linux-based blade server -- the Glacier Xeon Blade Server System -- that as its moniker implies, packs Intel's Xeon processors. MySQL AB, the German open-source database maker, will announce MySQL Administrator at LinuxWorld; the software relies on a graphical interface to monitor and manage all MySQL database servers in an enterprise. And Net Integration Technologies will debut something called Standalone Ntix Autonomic Linux Server Operating System, a variation of Linux that promises autonomic server features, including backup, collaboration, messaging, secure connections to the Internet, and protected data storage.

But not everyone in the Linux arena will be at LinuxWorld. This week, a Virginia custom software provider announced it would fill the gap left by Red Hat's recent decision to drop support for older versions of Red Hat Linux with a new line of support programs geared toward businesses and government agencies that don't want to upgrade their operating systems.