The SCO Group threw its hat into the Web services ring
Wednesday with a new technology framework that brings together resellers
and developers to package applications and services targeted at
small-to-medium businesses (SMBs).
Dubbed SCOx, the new strategy aims to leverage applications for SCO’s UNIX
and Linux platforms so that SMBs can expose them as Web services.
“This solution combines the best of Web services, locally hosted
applications and Web hosted applications to create a seamless business
solution especially focused on small and medium businesses,” SCOsource
senior vice president and general manager Chris Sontag told
internetnews.com. “We’re very excited about it.”
SCO said SCOx will allow customers to access their SCO applications and
services online, and will allow for the integration of any Web
services-enabled applications, including Microsoft .NET and SunOne J2EE
applications. The company has already begun rolling out portions of its SCOx framework which are
designed to help developers enable their applications for Web services.
“Through their reseller channel, SCO has been a mainstay of the SMB and
branch office markets for many years,” said Laura DiDio, senior analyst
with The Yankee Group. “SCOx should play very nicely with many of SCO’s
stakeholders since it allows vertical application providers a greater reach
to customers through Web services as well as provide SCO resellers with a
recurring revenue stream.”
SCO already supports more than 4,000 applications on its platforms —
including applications focused on vertical markets like manufacturing,
pharmacy, retail and finance. With SCOx, the company seeks to give
developers the tools to integrate those applications with its e-business
solutions, like its SCObiz platform, which provides e-commerce support for
SMBs and branch offices. SCO said integration between the applications and
SCObiz will help customers share information between tradition applications
and e-business services, for instance allowing an onsite inventory
management system to share data in real-time with an online shopping cart.
The company said it plans to roll out the majority of SCOx’s components by
its annual SCO Forum conference in August.
SCO sued IBM for allegedly misusing trade secrets after IBM walked away
“Things came to a head at LinuxWorld, and we decided our only choice was to
“Our full intent is to see this through all the way,” Sontag said. “We’re
Sontag said SCO’s SCOx initiative is proof that the company is not just
depending on its intellectual property for revenues, a fear that was
expressed in the wake of the company’s announcement in March that it was suing
IBM for $1 billion for violation of its UNIX license. That
move came two months after SCO unveiled
SCOsource, a new branch of the company focused on licensing its
intellectual property, specifically the Unix System 5 libraries for Linux.
“SCOsource is just one small part of what SCO is doing,” Sontag said. “The
majority of the company is working on next generation versions of the UNIX
operating system and on Linux products.”
from a joint project with SCO which sought to create an Intel Itanium
version of SCO’s UnixWare. IBM scrapped the effort, dubbed Project
Monterey, when it decided to focus its attention on Linux rather than UNIX.
But SCO maintained that IBM’s rapid strides with Linux were built on trade
secrets it garnered from Project Monterey — especially the integration of
UNIX System 5 libraries with Linux, which allows the Linux platform to run
many UNIX applications.
file a suit,” Sontag said.
Since SCO filed the suit, IBM requested that it be removed to federal court
and SCO agreed. The action has now moved to federal court in Salt Lake
City, Utah, and IBM has requested an extension to give it time to respond
to SCO’s initial filing. Once IBM responds, Sontag said the case will move
into the discovery phase.
well resourced to be able to do that.”
