Sun signs up for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

By Alun Williams

Posted on 25 Jun 2003 at 12:03

Sun has entered into a global agreement with Red Hat to distribute the x86 versions Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

The two companies have also agreed to 'broaden the use of each other's technologies'. What this means is that Red Hat will also be distributing Sun's latest JVM (Java virtual machine) with its business oriented Enterprise Linux.

Sun will now sell and support all x86 versions of Enterprise Linux: 'AS' (advanced server), 'ES' (enterprise sever) and 'WS' (the workstation edition). A Sun spokesperson emphasised to us that Sun would still be providing level 1, 2 and 3 support - the consumer would be wholly dealing with Sun.

Red Hat was the distro of choice, Sun told us, due to perceived market demand.

At the Networks for Business 2003 show, Sun was also showing off its new Blade Server offerings. The Sun Fire V60x and V65x systems include 2.8 or 3.06GHz Intel Xeon processors, six PCI-X slots, support for up to 12GB of memory and hot-swappable power supplies with independent power cords. In terms of their software, customers have a choice of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux or the Solaris x86 Platform Edition.