Open source operating system Linux has long been labeled unscalable, especially in comparison with rival (and commercial) flavors of Unix. That label won’t stick much longer. Since changing its name from Pacific HiTech, TurboLinux Inc has thrown itself into efforts to promote its TurboCluster Server as a low- cost platform for compute-intensive applications. Three new alliances should help cement TurboCluster’s position as the commercial cluster software option for Linux.
A deal with Compaq Computer Corp lets independent software vendors (ISVs) test drive their applications on TurboCluster software, Compaq Proliant servers and Compaq AlphaServer systems at Compaq’s test labs in Marlboro, Massachusetts. The Test Drive Lab is available over the internet, so ISVs anywhere can try the systems on for size. TurboLinux has agreed to train Compaq’s Test Drive Lab engineers and to provide software support. Both companies will market the program and TurboLinux will provide software to Compaq’s Solution Alliance members at a discount.
That’s only the beginning. Assuming high-end applications are developed and tested at the Compaq labs, companies will need systems to run them on. To that end, Giganet Inc has agreed to let TurboLinux package its cLAN drivers with the TurboCluster Server. The point is that the cLAN family supports virtual interface (VI) in hardware; this is an industry standard for compute-intensive Linux applications like financial and scientific modeling. VI provides such applications with a direct communications path, bypassing the operating system and eliminating processor overhead. The idea is to provide Linux clusters with high throughput, low latency and altogether unprecedented performance and efficiency. Businesses should be able to assemble Intel-based servers into server farms – an ideal low cost platform for web hosting, scientific and technical applications, TurboLinux executives say.
Any Intel-based servers in particular? Glad you asked: TurboLinux has also lined up Cubix Corp, a privately held hardware company, to bundle TurboCluster with its own Density Series servers for enterprise server farms. Cubix specializes in the manufacture of consolidated network server systems, so the TurboCluster bundle qualifies as a web farm appliance. TurboLinux and Cubix say they will work together on support, co-marketing and sales and will exchange technical information so as to tweak TurboCluster for the Cubix hardware. We designed a redundantly redundant system for continuous web site uptime at a starting price under $10K, explained Cubix’s VP of marketing and sales, Jim Zakzeski. With TurboCluster server, Cubix turned a complex configuration into a commodity – inexpensive and easy to deploy. Linux not scalable? Not for long.
