Linux Online - Hardware Today: For Linux, Maturity Leads to Inroads

Hardware Today: For Linux, Maturity Leads to Inroads


Publication:	Server Watch	Date:	Jan 28 2005
Reporter:	Drew Robb

In the world of Linux servers, 2004 was not so much about revolutionary breakthroughs as it was about consolidation, growing maturity, and "corporatization." In many ways it's like the booming renewable energy industry. The age of hippies sitting on hillsides dreaming of windmills replacing coal and nuclear plants has passed. In their place are Fortune 500 suits — a less idealistic phase but a necessary one that propelled wind power from the far fringes into the energy mainstream.

Similarly, Linux appears to be transitioning successfully from the outer rim of the enterprise galaxy to the very hub of the server mainstream. While a few of the pioneering companies remain, like Red Hat and Penguin Computing, big names like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Novell, and Dell are now driving the growth of the platform.