UnitedLinux Targets Telecommunications Carriers

The UnitedLinux partnership steamed ahead in its goal to own the enterprise
space Thursday, unveiling a new version of its UnitedLinux 1.0 Linux
distribution aimed at telecommunications carriers.

The partnership — composed of Conectiva, The SCO Group , SuSE Linux and Turbolinux — released
UnitedLinux 1.0 at Comdex in November. The new features, slated for
release as a Service Pack in first quarter 2003, integrate the Open Source
Development Labs’ (OSDL) Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) 1.1 feature set.

The OSDL’s CGL Working Group, defined the requirements Linux must meet to
be viable for telecom equipment providers and service providers. The
enhancements fall in seven categories, including open standards compliance,
platform requirements, high availability, serviceability, development tools
support, performance and security.

“We are pleased to announce this significant new feature set for the
UnitedLinux 1.0 operating system only a short time after the introduction
of our first product,” said UnitedLinux General Manager Paul Hunter. “The
delivery of UnitedLinux version 1.0 on schedule and a first-quarter release
of these follow-on enhancements show that we can and will respond quickly
to market demand.”

Developed by OSDL members SuSE, HP, IBM and Intel, the CGL 1.1 features are
intended to allow telecommunications carriers to develop and deploy new
products and services on standards-based, modular communications platforms.
The initial feature set is aimed squarely at Intel-based hardware
platforms, and UnitedLinux said the features will answer carriers’ demands
for performance, reliability and availability, while delivering rapid,
cost-effective deployment at a significantly lower cost.

“The availability of OSDL Carrier Grade Linux features for United Linux
enables Telecom Equipment Manufacturers and Carriers to transition to
commercial, off-the-shelf solutions which reduce development costs and
time-to-market,” said Boris Nalbach, chief technology officer, SuSE Linux.
“And by providing scalability ranging from soft real-time systems to
backend processing, customers for the first time can use a single platform
for most telco applications — significantly reducing total cost of
ownership by reducing needed IT skill sets.”