Canonical, VMware Create Skinny Linux for Virtual Appliances
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

At the VMworld 2007 virtualization conference in San Francisco last week, Canonical, the commercial entity behind the Ubuntu variant of the Debian distribution of Linux, and VMware, the $26 billion gorilla of X64 server virtualization, announced that they have been working on creating a streamlined version of Ubuntu suitable for deployment in ESX Server hypervisors and offering a much smaller memory footprint. The Ubuntu JEOS Edition--short for Just Enough Operating System--is expected this fall alongside VMware's Virtual Appliance Development Kit. READ MORE >

HP Engineers New Blade Server Box for SMB Shops
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Server makers have finally figured out that enterprise-grade blade server systems that require raised floor data center environments and 240-volt electricity are not going to appeal to small and medium businesses that tend to cram their computers into corners and closets. Last week, Hewlett-Packard, which has taken the lead in the blade server space after losing it to IBM over the past few years, is finally bringing a blade system--true to the name of its BladeSystem product line--to market that is engineered for SMB customers. READ MORE >

SCO Files for Bankruptcy Protection
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It was not a very auspicious way to begin a trial. Last Friday, beleaguered Unix vendor and one-time Linux wannabee the SCO Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, only one full business day before its long-awaited trail in its lawsuit against Novell over who controls the rights to the intellectual property and copyrights to Unix gets underway. While various lawsuits SCO is involved in concerning who owns Unix, who is violating licenses, and who may or may not have dumped code into Linux are very much alive, the question now is will SCO be alive to pursue them. READ MORE >

Transitive Rejiggers Emulation Software, Adds Partners
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

While server virtualization is perhaps the hottest topic in IT these days because it makes servers more flexible, more resilient, and work harder thanks to consolidation, it could turn out that over the long haul the emulation of applications written on one architecture (and its operating system) on totally different and incompatible systems is equally important in delivering flexible, resilient, and efficient systems--and perfectly compatible with virtualization. That is what Transitive, the maker of the QuickTransit emulation environment, is certainly hoping. READ MORE >