UnitedLinux Clan To Detail Unified ISV, Channel, Customer Programs At LinuxWorld

As it prepares to ship its first set of distributions in November, the UnitedLinux clan is developing unified ISV, channel and customer support programs, one key executive said.

At LinuxWorld from Aug. 12-15, UnitedLinux--a consortium formed in May by four leading Linux distributors--will demonstrate an alpha version of its uniform UnitedLinux distribution and detail new programs, said Ransom Love, the former president and CEO of Caldera, who became head of Caldera's UnitedLinux operation in June.

UnitedLinux executives will be discussing the programs over the next several weeks, Love said. He noted that the four companies--Caldera, Conectiva, SuSE and TurboLinux--will remain separate but will draw upon one another's expertise to give ISV and channel partners a predictable, one-stop way to register as a UnitedLinux reseller or developer.

Caldera, for example, announced Wednesday a partnership with Conectiva to improve its reach into Latin America. Under terms of the agreement, Conectiva's sales force and reseller channels will sell Caldera's products and services in Brazil. In addition, Conectiva and Caldera will partner to provide customer support, training and professional services for the companies' mutual customers, Caldera officials said.

On May 30, the four competitors in the Linux market teamed to create a uniform version of the Linux distribution for business to compete more aggressively as a team against Red Hat, which has become the de facto Linux distribution in recent years.

UnitedLinux provides a single platform for application development, certification and deployment, and allows Linux vendors, software developers and OEMs to support one offering. However, each of those four companies will remain separate and ship their own UnitedLinux distributions in November. The alpha will be available within the next few weeks and the beta version will be released in September, Love said.

"In general, we have gotten feedback from both ISVs, customers and channel partners [who] want us to work together so when they sign up with one, they don't have to sign up with all four," said Love. "So the general direction is to come up with a unified way of dealing with developers, channel partners and customers."

For example, a channel partner would have access to all four distributions to resell but one single point for registering and certification. A customer, under the same approach, will be able to sign a global support agreement that is honored by and paid for by all four distribution vendors, Love said.

The UnitedLinux distribution, which is backed by IBM, Advanced Micro Devices, Computer Associates International, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, NEC, Fujitsu and SAP, represents another major Linux standardization effort and perhaps signals the predicted consolidation of the Linux market.