D.H. Brown Associates Releases 2003 Linux Function Review

Business Wire, May 14, 2003

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

PORT CHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2003

D. H. Brown Associates, Inc. (DHBA), a leading technology assessment firm, today published the 2003 release of its Linux Function Review, a comprehensive functional evaluation of Linux as a commercial server operating environment.

The study reveals that distributions of the widely popular Linux operating system have made steady gains in their functional capabilities for meeting enterprise computing requirements. Moving beyond its open-source origins, Linux now offers the opportunity to drive commodity Intel-based technology server building blocks into the mainstream enterprise IT application space.

Although UNIX systems still clearly offer important functional advantages for the most demanding, high-end commercial applications, Linux has now become a mainstream operating environment for a broad range of general-purpose departmental and workgroup applications in addition to its traditional base of infrastructure solutions, "edge of network" applications, development platforms, and technical computing applications.

The latest functional evaluation shows that most of the conventional UNIX operating systems retain the lead for meeting overall enterprise computing requirements, but Linux distributions have clearly narrowed the gap. "Linux has long made a good fit with certain key applications, such as entry file- and print-sharing or web servers, appliances, Internet Service Provider infrastructures, and compute nodes in technical computing clusters," said Tony Iams, Vice President of Systems Software and Operating Environments for Industry-Standard Servers Research at DHBA. "The consistent growth of its functional capabilities, especially its ability to support web-based applications, expands the range of suitable deployment, allowing it to increasingly rival well-established operating systems in use at the enterprise level."

Since 1989, all of the major systems software vendors have relied on DHBA evaluations of operating system features and functional capabilities as independent verification for their internal competitive assessments. The 2003 Linux Function Review builds on this strong foundation, applying the firm's disciplined methodology to rate Linux's scalability, system management tools, RAS (reliability, availability, and serviceability), web application services, and directory and security services. In the study, DHBA employed over a hundred functional categories to compare three leading Linux distributions - Debian GNU/Linux 3.0, Red Hat Advanced Server 2.1, and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 (based on their functional capabilities as of January 1, 2003). The study compares these Linux distributions to the most popular UNIX systems: AIX 5L 5.2, HP-UX 11i, Solaris 9, Tru64 UNIX 5.1, and UnixWare 7.1.3.

An executive summary of the 2003 Linux Function Review can be downloaded http://www.dhbrown.com/dhbrown/03_Linux.cfm after registering.