Caldera International Inc., appearing to make headway in its strategy to
bring Linux to the enterprise, Monday announced the formation of a new
business line and a deal to implement its UnixWare 7 with Linux Kernel
Personality (LKP) technology for Canada’s largest network of retail
pharmacies.
The company is merging its four international services practices — Product
Support, Education, Professional Services, and On-Line Services (including
Volution Online) — to create the Services Business Line, focusing on
providing small-to-medium businesses, replicated sites and vertical markets
with enterprise class service for Linux and UNIX solutions.
“Caldera understands that customers need enterprise quality services around
Linux before they complete full enterprise deployment projects,” said Reg
Broughton, senior vice president and general manager, Services Business
Line, Caldera. “With all services in one business unit, Caldera can
streamline and customize our offerings to meet the business critical
requirements of partners and customers worldwide, empowering them to
confidently deploy Caldera Linux and Unix solutions.”
The new business line will offer services ranging from full-blown management
of large-scale projects and programs to online software management
subscription services.
Meanwhile, the complementary Platform Business Line is making strides of its
own with Canada’s Shoppers Drug Mart, which plans to implement Caldera’s
UnixWare 7 with LKP technology, running the SilverStream Application Server,
Linux release. Caldera said Shoppers Drug Mart will deploy the technology in
more than 800 stores beginning in the second quarter of 2002.
Shoppers Drug Mart wanted to maintain its existing UnixWare infrastructure,
but needed additional technology for corporate applications. Caldera said
its combination of a Linux solution on a UNIX platform allowed it to fulfill
both requirements.
“This installation supports Caldera’s position as a leader in providing real
solutions for real business needs,” said Biff Traber, senior vice president,
Platform Business Line, Caldera. “Combining the best of two worlds — the
heritage of UNIX and the momentum of Linux — provides a tremendous benefit
to organizations such as Shoppers Drug Mart that need the stability,
scalability and customization to run a network that literally spans a
nation. With our release of Open UNIX 8 this summer, Caldera is making that
integration of technologies even easier to implement.”
Open UNIX 8 incorporates the LKP technology into the UnixWare 7 kernel,
allowing Linux applications to be deployed on top of the Unix kernel.
Shoppers Drug Mart plans to upgrade to Open UNIX 8 after it has certified
the SilverStream technology via the Linux application layer, Caldera said.
SilverStream Application Server enables the development and deployment of a
range of store-based applications under UnixWare 7, and Shoppers Drug Mart
plans to make it a core component of its corporate environment.
The Orem, Utah-based Caldera made the announcements from the floor of
Caldera Forum 2001, a trade show it is hosting at the University of
California, Santa Cruz.
