New NEC Server Based on Linux OS, Provides Fault Tolerance

While Linux is considered a high-availability platform in much the same way as Unix, it typically does not run on servers that offer similar high-availability characteristics, said Mike Mitsch, senior marketing director at NEC. Also, there is a definite lack of Linux applications that can properly execute failovers, he said.

NEC's new Linux fault-tolerant servers solve those problems from the hardware perspective by using the same servers that offer fault tolerance under Windows, including redundant hardware so that failure of a component inside the box will not affect the server's operations, Mitsch said.

On top of that server, NEC has added a modified version of Red Hat 7.1 Linux with kernel 2.4.2, which has been hardened, Mitsch said. That hardening includes additional management capabilities and the ability for two Linux-based systems to see the same instructions at all times. "Therefore, if one CPU fails, the other knows what's going on," he said.

The base code of the hardened Linux has not been changed, so applications run the same as they would on nonhardened Linux, Mitsch said. "We just added extensions related to fault-tolerant hardware and hardened the code," he said.

NEC currently has about 100 solution providers in North America, many of which came from the Unix side of the business and have found it difficult to make the transition to the Windows market. They should find the Linux-based fault-tolerant servers to be a good way to transition to the Linux space, Mitsch said.

NEC's version of Linux is the only Unix or Linux OS that offers fault tolerance, a critical feature for customers for whom data integrity is critical, said Ron Kramer, vice president and COO of All Computer Solutions, a solution provider in Portland, Maine.

NEC's new Linux, combined with the fault-tolerant server, means new opportunities to move clients from Sun Microsystems' Solaris and other Unix platforms

to Linux for less than $30,000, Kramer said. "A cost-effective fault-tolerant solution is the key," he said. "A full Sun implementation is prohibitive."

Open sourcing, Linux and the low cost of the server mean there are dozens of applications ready for clients today, Kramer said.

The server lists for $27,199, including two 800MHz Pentium III processors. They are available through authorized solution providers and also through the two-tier channel via Avnet-Hallmark.