The Santa Cruz Operation updated its year-old Tarantella application broker software yesterday, adding security and load balancing features it hopes will make the technology more attractive to large customers. Tarantella version 1.2 ships next week, and adds support for the Secure Sockets Layer protocol and RSA cryptography, integrated into the Tarantella client software. The addition means that users on a public network can gain secure access to applications extended to the web by the Tarantella technology. Previously, customers wanting secure access had to resort to virtual private networks or secure intranets. Administrators can set the desired level of security for remote users and individual applications from the central console. SCO also added load balancing and failover support to the product’s server-based middleware, so that large customers can expand their back-end systems with multiple servers. And SCO says it’s also improved the performance of the Adaptive Internet Protocol communications link by 30% in the new release. SCO needs to expand its business beyond its traditional small and medium-sized customers and thinks Tarantella might be one way to do it. At SCO Forum yesterday, it wheeled out some large customers already using the product in 1,000 seat or more implementations, including NASA and MCI Corp. Both have deployed Tarantella to extend existing applications out to the web as a cheaper alternative to application redevelopment. And SCO says that it is currently focusing on getting 100 large customers up and running, in an effort to convince others to follow suit. SCO CEO Doug Michels said that he regards SCO’s Tarantella business as a new product and a new business model for SCO – like a virtual start- up. Michels even hinted that the unit, already run as a mini- business within SCO, might be spun-off from the parent at some stage. It has all the makings of a great company, he said. SCO senior vice president Ray Andersen said that support for additional server types, a wider variation of clients, including those from the recently formed Symbian palmtop venture, and additions to the mid-tier server software, would be forthcoming over the next year. He also said that future versions of Tarantella would connect directly to Microsoft Corp’s Windows Terminal Server instead of using third party software from the likes of Citrix Systems Inc as it does currently. Pricing for the new version remains at $395 per user, but the security pack costs an extra $50.
