14 DAY TRIAL // Although Solaris is still well respected and is doing ok on the server market, Sun recognized that some customers might still prefer Linux. As a result, Sun decided to follow the release of Solaris as open-source, last year, with the release the UltraSparc specification to open-source developers. It is also reported that they are working with unnamed Linux distributors to develop a port to the T1.
The "unnamed" distributors are probably Red Hat and/or Novell. Red Hat had previous agreements with Sun to support Linux on their servers and last year, Sun contemplated acquiring Novell in a move against IBM.
The problem, it seems, is that although a port may be completed this year, it will be a while before Linux and Sun's eight-core T1 gets used in production environments. Until then, Sun will market the traditional Solaris based solutions.
"Having multiple operating systems [for the T1] broadens its appeal," said Mike Splain, chief technologist for Sun's Scalable Systems Group.
Linux has already been ported to the UltraSparc, but very few actually use it. Splain attributes this to technical limitations the developers are facing without access to the documentation. Sun is now insuring that Linux developers now have "the exact same documents that we would use internally," he added.
Asked to comment, Karl Freund, vice president of IBM Systems Group, called the move "another signal that [the Power chip] has cast a long shadow over Sun's confusing array of processors. It would seem that even Sun and their remaining customers acknowledge the value of our Power innovations." Earlier this month, Blastwave.org, a firm in Cobourg, Ontario announced that they had ported Solaris to IBM's Power chip.