Hewlett-Packard Leaps On Linux Bandwagon (02/23/99, 8:32 p.m. ET) By Stuart Glascock, Computer Reseller News At LinuxWorld in San Jose, Calif., next week, Hewlett-Packard will formally unveil a companywide Linux strategy stretching across its platform, services, and software groups and joining a growing number of hardware vendors to fully embrace the alternative operating system. "HP really sees Linux as a significant force in the industry," said Wayne Caccamo, HP Internet planning manager, Internet Application Server Division. "We really expect it to emerge as a platform of choice in selected environments, particularly in ISPs and in e-commerce software development." To take advantage of Linux momentum, HP is forming an Open Source Solutions Operation, which will drive HP's Linux strategy, Caccamo said. HP already has announced support for the HP NetServer product line with Linux vendor Red Hat Software, in Research Triangle Park, N.C. And an HP project is already underway to post Linux to IA-64. At LinuxWorld, HP will further join the Linux bandwagon by supporting Linux for PA-RISC. In an unusual twist, the PA-RISC effort will be a pure open source development, coordinated by a group of Ottawa-based open source developers called The Puffin Group. "The Puffin Group is coordinating this porting project on behalf of HP," Caccamo said. In the software area, HP plans to bring its entire software and applications lines to Linux, with the aim of positioning Linux as the preferred development strategy for HP. In addition, the company will be starting a Linux training program and an electronic support system for Linux. Embracing Linux does not compete with HP's own flagship enterprise operating system, HP-UX, Caccamo said. "We see them as complementary," he said. "While they will go after similar things, Linux just doesn't do high-availability clustering. It doesn't scale." In other areas, there are plans to include support for Linux users on OpenMail, HP's Unix-system enterprise-messaging and collaborating product. Also, HP Firehunter service-level management application is available on Linux. From MAILER-DAEMON@cs.depaul.edu Wed Feb 24 13:09:09 1999