NEW YORK — (company press release) — Linuxcare Inc., a recognized leader in providing comprehensive services for Linux, today announced its Custom Solution Service, the first comprehensive service and support program that enables businesses to build market share with their own branded, optimized Linux solutions.

Hewlett-Packard, Informix Corporation, VA Linux, ThinkFree and others are participating in the Custom Solution Service, which works seamlessly with Linuxcare's pioneering Global Support Infrastructure to allow original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to stay ahead of competition and bring branded Linux solutions quickly to market.

“The Linuxcare Custom Solution Service jump-starts customers' and partners' ability to get to market with a branded, completely optimized implementation of Linux for their specific solution,” said Fernand Sarrat, president and CEO of Linuxcare. “When Linuxcare assembles, integrates and recompiles Linux and standard Open Source code to maximize the advantages of a specific hardware and software configuration, it can pay off with huge performance increases in areas such as I/O and Web page access. The result is a real competitive advantage when a customer or partner brings their solution to market.”

“Linuxcare's Custom Solution Service enables Hewlett-Packard to differentiate itself in the Linux market by offering custom Linux solutions,” said Mike Balma, director of Open Source Solutions for Hewlett-Packard. “We are confident that the long-term relationship with Linuxcare will continue to help bring innovative programs to HP's Linux and Open Source customers.”

Linuxcare Accelerates Time to Market

Time to market is critical in the fast-growing Linux arena, which research firm IDC projects will grow to $8.2 billion by 2003. Linuxcare reduces the risk and complexity of custom Linux implementations by handling the full range of integration steps, allowing customers to stay focused on their core competencies. Customized Linux solutions enable OEMs and ISVs to stay current with the evolving Open Source Linux kernel and accelerate their time to market.

Program Provides End-to-End Services

The Linuxcare Custom Solution Service takes full advantage of the open availability of Linux and Open Source code. After assessing a customer's application requirements, experts from Linuxcare Labs construct, install and certify the custom solution. Linuxcare also supplies all the technical and support service necessary for quick entry into the Linux arena. Unlike general-purpose Linux solutions that are not designed to support complex enterprise computing environments, Linuxcare's solutions are certified at the component level and tuned for peak performance on any customers' platforms. In benchmark tests conducted by Linuxcare Labs, a Linuxcare custom solution sustained disk performance at approximately twice the rate of a leading shrink-wrap Linux distribution, and served Web pages running Apache up to five times faster.

In addition, Linuxcare provides a full security audit, applies the latest available security patches, and employs the most current, tested Open Source drivers to support full functionality of components included in the target system. In the test case described above, Linuxcare reconfigured or removed access to several default system services that represented potential security breaches in the default off-the-shelf Linux distribution, greatly increasing the security of the custom Linux solution.

Linuxcare is also working very closely with the Linux Standard Base (LSB). “When the LSB specifications are complete, Linuxcare plans to ensure that all of our solutions are LSB compliant, including the Custom Solutions Service,” said Dave Sifry, CTO for Linuxcare. “I'm really pleased that Linuxcare is helping with the Linux Standard Base,” said Daniel Quinlan, chairman of the LSB. “We're looking forward to a long relationship that will help advance Linux and the Open Source movement.”

VA Linux plans to add Linuxcare's Custom Solution Program as an additional service option to its customers. In a co-marketing agreement, Linuxcare has agreed to use VA Linux Systems' SourceForge as a hosting and development resource. “We are pleased to extend VA Linux Systems' wide range of software, service and solution offerings with the solutions available through the Linuxcare Custom Solution Service,” said John T. Hall, vice president of services for VA Linux Systems. “We look forward to working with Linuxcare to increase the range of solutions offerings available in the market.”

Support Options Keep Solution Current

Through the Custom Solution Service, Linuxcare makes available a year of engineering support for the installation, along with ongoing updates, security patches and bug fixes. Program participants also receive discounts on Linuxcare services such as application porting, support and training.

Custom Linux Solutions Fit OEM/Integrator Requirements

Partners and customers across a variety of industries have recognized the tremendous business value that customized Linux solutions offer. Startup ThinkFree.com, of Mountain View, Calif., has developed a Web-based office productivity suite of applications that doesn't require users to learn an unfamiliar interface or lose the advantages of their existing Microsoft Office environment. Linuxcare will take center stage with ThinkFree.com during the first general session at Demo 2000 next week. As part of the Custom Solution Service, ThinkFree.com and Linuxcare are collaborating on a turnkey Linux system for end-users. Additionally, Linuxcare will provide Java Virtual Machine (JVM) technical support to Thinkfree.com.

Open-source proponent, eMEDIAt solutions of Lanham, Md., is a maker of platform-independent development tools. It's flagship product, Visual Impact, is a premier integrated development environment for building visual Linux applications. Rock-solid web development tools are critical to Linux's future and eMEDIAt has tapped Linuxcare to ensure that its Open Source model is properly supported.

Linuxcare supports systems integrators as they extend their competencies from UNIX to Linux-based ebusiness. Windward Consulting Group, of Washington, D.C., supports large telecommunications, Internet infrastructure and ecommerce companies with specialized planning, design and implementation support. Linuxcare and Windward will jointly target these markets with optimized Linux solutions.

About Linuxcare, Inc.

Linuxcare, Inc. is a recognized leader in providing comprehensive customer services for enterprise Linux environments, including technical support, professional services, education and product certification. Linuxcare supports all major distributions of Linux, leading Open Source software solutions, and Linux-based enterprise database applications on all major hardware platforms.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.