Red Hat Integrates and Simplifies with RHEL 5
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

As a provider of open source operating systems, middleware, and development tools, Red Hat talks a lot about how the open source movement is changing the very nature of enterprise computing. With Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, the company is offering an integrated set of systems software that includes integrated server virtualization, clustering, and sophisticated file systems--more or less for the same price that it charged for the prior release, RHEL 4, minus many of those features. READ MORE >

The Feeds and Speeds of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

While Red Hat, like many other operating system and more complete software stack providers, wants to pitch the latest release of its software as a major change in packaging that will broaden the appeal of its products, the fact remains that for many customers, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 is a new and substantially improved operating system that will be sold on its own merits of features, performance, and price compared to alternatives. READ MORE >

Transaction Processing Council Launches TPC-E Benchmark
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The Transaction Processing Council, the well-known industry consortium that is nearly two decades old and creates and audits a series of online transaction processing benchmarks on behalf of server, operating system, and database software makers, has finally got an updated transaction processing test to market. The TPC-E test, which becomes available today, has been ratified by the member companies and will be the first test with standardized code that will be freely available to anyone in the IT community to use to gauge the performance of systems. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: The China Spin Drone
by Hesh Wiener

At 3 p.m. on February 27, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was falling in sympathy with a meltdown on the Shanghai exchange, seemed to drop off a cliff. What actually happened is that the computer behind the average was falling behind, so Dow switched to a backup system, which caught up very quickly, bringing the day to a miserable end. The Dow incident is an example of the Roadrunner Effect, where the Coyote runs past the edge of the cliff but doesn't fall until he looks down. A similar thing might be happening in the computer industry right now. READ MORE >