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Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions softwareLast week, Red Hat announced it had reached a deal to buy some of the software from the Netscape Enterprise Suite. Red Hat spokesperson Leigh Day said that the deal has not yet been finalized, but that it is expected to close in the next two weeks. Red Hat is paying $23 million for the software, but what is it getting, and why does the company want to buy software that it could develop instead? Day said that Red Hat is getting Netscape's Directory Server, Certificate Management, messaging and calendering software. According to Day, it was worth spending the $23 million because "Red Hat is gaining a tried and true technology that would take years to develop on its own." The company will also be taking on a team of developers from AOL/Netscape that have been working on the software. Though Netscape was acquired several years ago, the Directory Server software was still under active development. Netscape Directory Server 6.2 was released last December. It doesn't take a marketing expert to divine Red Hat's motives for the acquisition. When going head-to-head with Microsoft or Novell, Red Hat needs a mature directory services and groupware suite. Day confirmed that Red Hat would be using its acquisition to compete directly with directory server offerings from Microsoft and Novell. She also noted that Netscape's software is in use by a number of enterprise and government agencies. Whether Red Hat will gain those customers as part of the acquisition is another question. Day said that Red Hat has not yet announced whether the company would be taking over support for current users of Netscape Security Solutions. She also wasn't sure whether Red Hat's final product would support operating systems other than Linux. Netscape Directory Server currently runs on HP-UX, Solaris, Windows NT and 2000 and Red Hat Advanced Server. Red Hat currently ships OpenLDAP with its enterprise products. What does Netscape Directory Server offer that OpenLDAP does not? Both technologies implement the features of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), but a glance at the features list for Netscape Directory Services shows that there are several features not implemented in OpenLDAP, including schema updates, server-side sort of search results, and a number of other features. Netscape's software also offers GUI administration tools and tuning tools that are probably a bit more user-friendly than OpenLDAP's tools. In keeping with Red Hat's open source policy, Red Hat will be releasing the software under the GPL, according to Day. As with the Sistina Global File System (GFS) software, it will be between six and twelve months before the code is released. Why such a lengthy process? Day said that Red Hat would use this time to optimize the code for its products, and for a community development process. Day said that the software would also be usable with Fedora, but wasn't sure if it would be released as part of Fedora Core. We also wondered whether any patents would be part of the deal. Netscape was issued several patents related to directory services prior to their acquisition by AOL. Patent 6,366,913 was issued to Netscape for "Centralized directory services supporting dynamic group membership," which no doubt applies to Netscape's Directory Server. Patent 6,094,485, covering a method for "SSL step-up" may apply to Netscape's Certificate Management software. Netscape also was issued patents for an automatic client configuration system, a system for schedule and task management, and others that may apply to the suite of applications Red Hat is buying. Day said that Red Hat's legal team is "probably still looking into that." One hopes that the lawyers are looking carefully, as it would not do to acquire the software while leaving AOL with the patents related to the software. Red Hat may also find need of a defensive patent portfolio in the future. In the long run, this should be very good for the Linux and open source community. The addition of Netscape's directory software and groupware solutions will give Linux yet another feature that it needs to compete with Microsoft in the enterprise market. (Log in to post comments)
Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software Posted Oct 7, 2004 9:57 UTC (Thu) by alspnost (guest, #2763) [Link] Sounds good - my impression is that we do really need something like this. I keep being told that we need to start moving away from NIS etc, but that current LDAP implementations just aren't mature or reliable enough to take over completely. Perhaps whatever comes out of this could help? This is clearly an area when Windoze is ahead, so it's great to see that the Linux world - thanks to Red Hat - may soon be able to fight back.
Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software Posted Oct 7, 2004 15:26 UTC (Thu) by socket (guest, #43) [Link] I'd just like to ask a question of RedHat:...it will be between six and twelve months before the code is released. Why such a lengthy process? Day said that Red Hat would use this time to optimize the code for its products, and for a community development process. This is an interesting use of the phrase "community development process." Am I to take this to mean that the community can contribute somehow to an unreleased codebase? How should I try to understand this? I'm not saying they shouldn't wait before releasing the code. I'm just trying to understand how a community development process on this project can happen without anyone outside of redhat having access to the code. What kind of process can happen without being able to look at the code?
Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software Posted Oct 7, 2004 17:14 UTC (Thu) by evgeny (guest, #774) [Link] I believe the meaning of this sentence is they're optimizing the codebase for _two_ purposes: 1) being compatible with their existing offerings and 2) being ready for community-driven development.
Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software Posted Oct 7, 2004 18:57 UTC (Thu) by edgewood (subscriber, #1123) [Link] I agree with evgeny, above, as that's how I interpreted the statement when I originally read it.
Also note that it takes time to go through the code to ensure that there isn't third-party code that they're not licensed to release, and remove and replace it if there is.
And since they've kept their promise before (see Sistina, above), I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here.
Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software Posted Oct 7, 2004 22:20 UTC (Thu) by smoogen (subscriber, #97) [Link] I think one of the issues that takes the longest is doing a code check. Finding out that you had a large segment of BSD code that you just tried to relicense as GPL does not earn one friends it would seem ;P
Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software Posted Oct 8, 2004 13:31 UTC (Fri) by edgewood (subscriber, #1123) [Link] Redistributing BSD licensed code under the GPL could create a PR problem, but it's legally allowable: the BSD license allows redistribution and is compatible with the GPL.
The real problem with open sourcing a previously proprietary codebase is the potential inclusion of third-party proprietary code. If Netscape included some module from Widgets, Inc, under a license that allowed distribution in compiled form only, Redhat would violating the license if they released that code as part of the NES codebase. So they have to comb through the code and the legal archives looking for things like that, and if they find anything, replace it with code they do have the right to redistribute.
Release as free software Posted Oct 15, 2004 11:14 UTC (Fri) by danielos (subscriber, #6053) [Link] Release it as free software is good, but not enough. Probabily the code use closed building tool and give the code away "as is" is not good. They should take it and open a discussion on how to port to free tool chain, but this is not "beautifull" to customers' eyes: "RH buys a software and give away without touch it and without having integrated in their other products" don't make redhat look good. Also it's not good to free software developer eyes who want to work on "OSS compatible" code, that is most will continue to develop OpenLDAP stoling some code from netscape product: this will distrupt the just acquired product ... to the investors eyes is like burn money.
d.
Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software Posted Oct 9, 2004 5:25 UTC (Sat) by sfllaw (guest, #7137) [Link] Yay!
I can't wait for a fast, free LDAP server.
Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software Posted Oct 10, 2004 1:22 UTC (Sun) by mrons (subscriber, #1751) [Link] openldap is fast and free.
To get the fast past you need to enable the sleepycat DB backend and do some tuning. The openldap FAQ has information about this.
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