Caldera Gets Down To E-Business

Caldera Systems, Inc. officially launched its OpenLinux eServer 2.3 today, as the Linux Business Expo kicked off at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The product offering, along with a new Web site, is part of a strategic “Linux for ebusiness” thrust for the company.

OpenLinux eServer 2.3, set to ship next month, is based on the Linux 2.3.13 kernel and bundles a wide range of features and software packages that are intended to streamline the process of Internet-enabling business operations. The new product “is a thin server, component-based operating system that makes Linux server solutions easy to install, configure and manage remotely,” said a Caldera company statement.

Fairy Godmother For E-Commerce?

Features of the new release include installation tools, a Web-based system administration tool, and support for Java and XML. Additionally, the product is based on open standards technology, which will theoretically enable “existing business processes to be re-engineered for the Internet across all supported hardware platforms and database systems.”

“On our recent city-city tour with IBM and Oracle, we found that an overwhelming number of VARs (value added retailers) would like to transform their traditional software and service businesses into ebusiness solutions for their customers,” commented Ransom Love, Caldera Systems president and CEO. “Our Linux for ebusiness framework grants that wish by providing them with an optimizable platform, management tools, component options and open standards-based e-commerce infrastructure, not to mention 24×7 support.”

Big Blue Weighs In

“We’re excited about the new OpenLinux eServer 2.3 release because customers and resellers will be able to save time with installation and remote management tools,” stated Sandy Carter, director of IBM PartnerWorld, Netfinity brand. “In addition, because we’ve been working closely with Caldera to optimize this release, customers will also get improved performance when they deploy OpenLinux on Netfinity servers.”

IBM is a strategic partner of Caldera Systems, and, according to IBM, “both companies are strong advocates of open industry standards like those on which the eServer is based.”

Big Blue, which maintains a Linux Web site, helped to move the open-source operating system in the direction of broader business acceptance earlier this year by striking up strategic partnerships with Caldera Systems and other emerging market leaders such as Red Hat, SuSE and TurboLinux. The company also stepped up its competition with industry titan Oracle by developing a Linux version of DB2, its database software.

IBM also administers its ServerProven Solutions program in order to test software compatibility with Netfinity, and expanded the scope last summer to include vendors that support Linux.

OpenLinux.org Launch

Caldera has also launched a new Web site that is designed to assist developers of online business operations with the ability to download open-source products such as the Caldera Open Administration System (COAS), access white papers, and more.

Oxygen Studios executives Chris Cottle and Kip Henrie created the new site, which was launched along with an updated company logo. Henrie joined the company as the new creative director for Caldera.