Big vendors give open source added clout, Mar 19, 2007

Open-source systems may be gaining credibility in government circles because they are increasingly associated with large, well-respected suppliers such as IBM, Novell, Sun Microsystems and Unisys.

Massachusetts is apparently loosening a mandate that all agencies replace Microsoft Office software with products that support open formats just as a major international standards body is endorsing the first open format for archiving government records.

The Army is leaning toward Linux as the operating system for the service’s Future Combat System (FCS) program.

The Commerce Department has awarded a blanket purchase agreement to DLT Solutions for Red Hat software and services. Commerce personnel will be able to buy Red Hat Enterprise Linux and other products and services through the BPA, with DLT serving as the reseller.

"Linux has been very successful in this part of the world. There's a lot of interest in building technology and innovation around Linux."

Sessions about government use of Linux and moves by Fujitsu Computer Systems to let users run Linux and Microsoft Windows on the same hardware supported a growing consensus among industry experts that open-source software, particularly Linux, is here to stay.

Linux is well-suited to federal projects with small teams and scarce resources. And many Linux applications, such as the Census Bureau's Fast Facts service, can support an entire enterprise.

Adopting open-source software isn't just a money-saving proposition for cash-strapped government entities, according to an open-source proponent.

The Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration is funding a project to develop open-source performance analysis tools that researchers at government laboratories, universities and other places would use.

Secure version of operating system seeks to compete with Unix

The Agriculture Department's Forest Service will be one of the early adopters of Cray Inc.'s new Linux machines.

Officials at Cray Inc., a supercomputer manufacturer, introduced earlier this week the XD1 Linux-based supercomputer. Starting at less than $100,000, the XD1 is a less expensive alternative to the company's traditional supercomputers, and it is designed to outperform Linux clusters built using generic off-the-shelf parts that are increasingly popular with government high-performance computing shops.

A main catalyst for the move to thin clients is many organizations' adoption of Linux and other open-system computing tools. Low-cost thin clients are considered ideal for such environments, and Linux developers have provided broad support for thin-client applications.

IDC analysts say Linux took as much as 20 percent of the global thin-client market in 2003, with a 43 percent year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter alone.

There may be fewer viruses designed to attack the Linux operating system, but experts warn that Linux is no more bulletproof than any other system. Agencies that adopt Linux should be aware of its vulnerabilities, according to Travis Witteveen, executive vice president, Americas, for security firm F-Secure Corp.

"Computing systems are very similar, whether they're called Linux, [Microsoft Corp.'s] Windows, Unix, [Apple Computer Inc.'s] MacIntosh or even [Microsoft's] PocketPC," he said. "Security from the high perspective isn't very different. People for some reason had had this false sense that [Linux] is different. It isn't different at all."

Linux operating systems continue to gather steam in government information technology circles, with officials at the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts announcing they would support the open standard as the basis for mission-sensitive applications.

The courts agency awarded PEC Solutions Inc., based in Fairfax, Va., a contract worth up to $9 million to help migrate the administrative office's existing Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Solaris/Intel Corp. server infrastructure to the Linux platform. The agreement is initially for one year with an option for four more years.

According to officials, the Linux systems will back several critical applications supported at court locations throughout the United States, including court and probation/pretrial services case management, finance and accounting.

TopoZone contains a library of geospatial data, including USGS digital topographic maps and aerial photographs. The TopoZone Internet mapping system uses Open Source tools, such as the MapServer system, which will be used to serve data to the National Map.