Marist College joins OSDL

NEW YORK COLLEGE TO OPEN ONE OF ONLY THREE OSDL LINUX RESEARCH SITES WORLDWIDE


POUGHKEEPSIE, NY   New York's Marist College has joined Open Source
Development Labs (OSDL) and will offer mainframe data center computing
resources through OSDL for Linux developers, one of only three
OSDL-affiliated research facilities in the world.  The other OSDL labs are
located in Beaverton, Oregon and Yokohama, Japan.

Marist is the first college or university to become an affiliate member of
OSDL through a newly established College and University affiliate program. 

The Open Source Development Labs is home to Linus Torvalds, the creator of
Linux, and is dedicated to accelerating the growth and adoption of Linux in
the enterprise.  Founded in 2000 by CA, HP, Hitachi, IBM, Intel and NEC, OSDL
is a non-profit, vendor-neutral organization that sponsors Linux initiatives
targeting the datacenter, telecommunications and corporate desktop markets.
The Lab also makes state-of-the-art computing and test facilities in the
United States and Japan available to developers around the world. 

"Higher-education is gravitating to Linux for a number of reasons, and Marist
is one of the earliest to do so," said Stuart Cohen, OSDL CEO.  "As our first
higher-education member, Marist Collage will give OSDL insight into how
colleges and universities use Linux today, and also a better appreciation for
how it's being incorporated into computer science curricula."

Through Marist College, Linux developers will have remote access to a
mainframe system to run qualified projects and test Linux software. Enabling
a community of users to develop and test Linux on the mainframe will both
further improve Linux as an enterprise operating system, while building a
pool of skilled developers for industry and education.

"Marist's designation as an OSDL lab is an important strategic move in
support of further innovation, research and competitiveness in open source
development," said college President Dennis J. Murray, an early supporter of
the Linux movement.  "The lab, driven by IBM's powerful zSeries 990 server,
will allow Marist to work with businesses, government agencies, and other
universities and research centers to help develop a skilled work force and
products that will spur economic growth and enhance America's competitive
edge."

Marist College will make available through OSDL an IBM eServer zSeries 990
(z990) server to support the development of Linux applications and skills on
the mainframe. OSDL will begin accepting mainframe project requests in the
summer of 2004.  Projects intended for testing on the Marist mainframe
equipment will be accepted, evaluated and approved by OSDL according to its
existing project submission process.  For more information, visit
www.osdl.org.
Marist was an early adapter of Linux technology and has an international
reputation as a leader in the development of open source software.  The
college opened its Linux Research and Development lab in 2001.  Marist was
the first location to serve Linux on the IBM S/390 mainframe and configured
Linux on the mainframe to provide virtual servers to its students.  

"This is a great opportunity for Marist College, and in particular the School
of Computer Science & Mathematics," said Dr. Roger Norton, the school's dean.
"Linux is the future and our school has been at the forefront in bringing
Linux into our curriculum and research activities, especially as related to
exploiting the power of our zSeries computer to create virtual Linux servers
and environments.  This relationship with OSDL will further solidify our
commitment to Linux and provide additional opportunities for our students to
work on Linux and open sources projects."  

The IBM eServer zSeries 990 is the corporation's flagship server and one of
the technology's most powerful mainframes.  Introduced in May 2003, it is
geared toward large business and government customers for data processing,
bank transactions and secure Web sales, among other uses.

"The z990 with z/VM has superior virtualization over any platform we've
tested," said Harry Williams, Marist's director of technology and systems.
"We've deployed hundreds of virtual Linux servers, but now with the z990
running z/VM, we'll be able to test and deploy thousands of virtual Linux
servers, all centrally managed while controlling our environmental,
infrastructure and personnel costs.  This box is a techie's dream."

Marist is a highly selective liberal arts college located on the eastern
shore of the Hudson River halfway between New York City and Albany.  Marist
is included in The Princeton Review's guide of the top colleges and
universities in the U.S., The Best 351 Colleges,  and is listed in Barron's
Best Buys in Education.  Yahoo! Internet Life magazine also named Marist one
of "The 100 Most Wired Campuses" in America.  The college has an enrollment
of approximately 4,000 full-time undergraduates and an additional 2,000 adult
students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees.
# # #