Red Hat Unveils Open-Source Architecture, Makes Big Plans For Middleware Stack
Beyond that, the Raleigh, N.C.-based Linux vendor also intends to make available open-source implementations of Kerberos security software and open-source messaging server software, Red Hat executives said.
The company's newly dubbed Open Source Architecture (OSA) for the enterprise, unveiled at a briefing Tuesday, is based on next month's expected launch of Red Hat's more scalable, 64-bit-ready Enterprise Linux 3 platform.
The Enterprise Linux 3 line--including a workstation, departmental server and enterprise server--will serve as the foundation and unifying platform for the company's open-source Web application framework and middleware, executives said.
"We're moving up the stack," said Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik at the briefing Tuesday, adding that the value of Linux has moved from the kernel to the operating system and now to the middleware layer. "This allows us to go to even more mission-critical applications beyond the database," he said. "It's an exciting opportunity."
The upgraded distribution has 350 new features, including 32-way symmetric multi-processing support, robust 64-bit support for Intel's Itanium 2 and AMD's Opeteron, and support for nine different platforms. It includes portions of the forthcoming Linux 2.5/2.6 kernel.
It will also feature new virtualization and provisioning features that, when combined with the middleware layer, will enable on-demand services and meet all the needs of the data center, Szulik added.
"It will really [enable] Red Hat to compete more aggressively for the data center business," he said.
Paul Cormier, executive vice president of engineering at Red Hat, said three of the open-source middleware layers--including the clustered file system with failover and load-balancing support--will be available within two quarters of version 3's release.
The clustered software will be available two to three months after the Enterprise Linux 3 distribution, he said.
The open-source application server is currently in beta-testing and will be available in the first quarter of 2004, Cormier said. Red Hat's open-source J2EE implementation is also due in the same time frame, he said.
The Linux company has made available its own database, content management and portal software but has traditionally worked most closely with top database and application server ISVs including IBM, Oracle and MySQL to fulfill the middleware stack.
While deemed by some to be a competitive move against its ISV partners, Red Hat's decision to make available an open-source Web application framework and middleware was dictated by customers' increasing need for open-source middleware tightly integrated with the company's open-source Linux distribution, Szulik said.
The CEO added that customers want an open-source alternative to the "bloated" Java code and an open-source clustered file system, as well as open-source middleware that is more tightly integrated with Linux than proprietary middleware.
When asked if the model will undermine the value of the proprietary middleware stack that sits on top of Linux, Szulik said commoditization will continue as open source evolves.
"We want to drive the price point of software really low," Szulik said, predicting that new profit opportunities for proprietary software companies will likely emerge.
He declined to say whether middleware partners IBM and Oracle expressed concern, but noted that customers like the idea of Red Hat offering an open-source application server, given that Microsoft includes Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 and the .Net framework with Windows Server 2003.
Red Hat, which pulled its first profit late last year, has been trumpeting the value of open-source software more aggressively over the past year. The company first bundled open-source software such as Tomcat and Apache with Red Hat 9 last year.
As part of its OSA, Red Hat also announced Tuesday Project Fedora, an open-source development community. The company also plans to integrate SecureLinux open-source security software into Enterprise Linux 4.
One analyst said the OSA, new enterprise capabilities and add-on layer approach of Red Hat's Enterprise Linux 3 line is a serious strategy but will not happen overnight.
"OSA is an ambitious strategy that aims to establish a modular operating system environment created as a magnet for third parties who wish to plug and play in the Linux market. It also seeks to open greater value and revenue opportunities for Red Hat, such as event management and server provisioning, to accelerate its growth and persuade investors that there is a viable business model on top of the OS," said George Weiss, vice president and research director at Gartner. "While a necessary part of Linux's future growth and maturity as well as Red Hat's own viability, OSA is highly ambitious and will undoubtedly create stresses on the company's organization to service the current expanding installed base, while scaling to handle the ever-increasing complexity in OSA's expanded enterprise model. This is likely to be a five-year endeavor."