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Unisys Delivers Industrial Strength Linux

From:  "Sumner, Stephen" <ssumner-AT-webershandwick.com>
To:  "'lwn-AT-lwn.net'" <lwn-AT-lwn.net>
Subject:  Unisys Delivers Industrial Strength Linux
Date:  Mon, 2 Aug 2004 09:21:55 -0500

Unisys Leapfrogs Marketplace with High-Performance Linux Solutions
ES7000 dynamic partitioning capabilities make Linux legitimate alternative
to Unix/RISC

BLUE BELL, Pa., August 2, 2004 - In a move that leapfrogs enterprise server
competitors Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), HP (NYSE: HPQ) and IBM
(NYSE: IBM), Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS) today announced the availability
of Linux on the company's ES7000 servers. Unisys, working with Novell, Inc.
(NASDAQ: NOVL) and Red Hat, Inc. (NASDAQ: RHAT), will provide the business,
government and scientific communities with services and support for
Linux-based solutions.

The company also unveiled at LinuxWorld Conference & Expo today the
first-ever dynamic partitioning capability on Linux for Intel-based servers.
This initiative links the power of Unisys ES7000 enterprise servers with the
flexibility and openness of the Linux operating system, providing customers
a strong, new alternative to expensive, proprietary RISC-based systems.

"Our enterprise customers are demanding industrial-strength Linux solutions
and we are responding in a revolutionary way," said Unisys President and
Chief Operating Officer Joe McGrath. "Four years ago, we were the first to
enter the high-end Windows market. Now it's time to shake up the Unix/RISC
market. By offering customers a bold, new legitimate choice in the Unix/RISC
space, Unisys is positioned to be an enterprise Linux market leader."

In this industry first, Unisys is bringing true dynamic partitioning to
Intel-based servers running Linux. Dynamic partitioning, the ability to
shift processing power to the applications that need it, as they need it,
with no human intervention, is a critical function for organizations running
complex and demanding workloads. This means that if an application suddenly
has a spike in demand, the ES7000 with Linux will automatically allocate
additional processing power to that application. When usage goes back to
normal, so does the amount of processing power assigned to that application.

Unisys engineers, drawing on years of mainframe and enterprise computing
experience, have brought this key functionality, previously only available
to users of expensive proprietary systems, to standard Intel-based servers
for the first time.

Unisys has 50 years of experience supporting multiple operating systems and
migrating workloads across various platforms. With thousands of customer
service representatives in over 100 countries, Unisys will implement and
support the ES7000 Linux software and hardware solutions.

Building on the company's 3D Visible Enterprise initiative and its
Blueprinting methodology, Unisys is enabling large enterprises with complex
computing environments to move off Unix/RISC platforms, such as Sun Solaris.

"Standardization has been a huge trend in the server industry, especially
since Standard High Volume (SHV) servers based on the Intel® Pentium® Pro
processor entered the market nearly ten years ago," said Richard Dracott,
general manager of Enterprise Marketing and Planning for Intel's Enterprise
Platforms Group. "Unisys, long a price/performance leader in high-end Intel
processor-based systems, is continuing this trend by bringing true
enterprise class functionality to the Linux environment, to large scale
multiprocessing systems based on both Intel Xeon(tm) processors MP and
Itanium® 2 processors."

The entire line of Intel-based Unisys servers, ranging from servers running
both 32-bit and 64-bit processors, from 4-way to 32-way, is available with
Linux. For the increasing number of IT departments looking to migrate away
from their large Unix/RISC systems, Unisys now offers the choice of
enterprise class Linux in addition to its Microsoft Windows-based solutions.
"Expect to see Unisys expand its ES7000 server offerings very soon - further
enabling RISC-free environments for mission-critical solutions," McGrath
said.

In addition, Unisys has optimized its Server Sentinel software, which
provides IT managers the ability to manage both Windows and Linux
environments from one screen - something industry analysts say no other
company offers today. Continuing this cutting-edge work, Unisys engineers
are developing several other unique enhancements to the Sentinel offering
including Application Sentinel, Database Sentinel and Security Sentinel.

"The entrance of Unisys into the Linux market is a great endorsement of the
Linux platform," said Hal Bennett, vice president of business development of
Novell. "Combining the scalability and performance power of Novell's SUSE
LINUX Enterprise Server with Unisys deep experience in mission critical
computing gives customers a compelling new option for deploying Linux at the
core of the enterprise."

Among the early adopters of Linux on the ES7000 are InteliTrac, a leading
biometric security company; Pennsylvania State University; marketing
services firm BeNOW; Florida Department of Children and Families; Medscheme,
a South African healthcare provider; and Policia Investigaciones de Chile,
the Chilean equivalent of the FBI.
Linux will be available on the ES7000 immediately.

About Unisys
Unisys is a worldwide information technology services and solutions company.
Our people combine expertise in consulting, systems integration,
outsourcing, infrastructure and server technology with precision thinking
and relentless execution to help clients, in more than 100 countries,
quickly and efficiently achieve competitive advantage. For more information,
visit www.unisys.com </>. 

Forward Looking Statements
Any statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements rely on assumptions and
are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from expectations. In particular, statements in
this release regarding the positive effect of Unisys introduction of a Linux
offering, any positioning that may result in Unisys being a market leader,
and any revenue that may be produced by such efforts, are subject to the
competitive risks and uncertainties that normally accompany the introduction
of new products. Additional discussion of factors that could affect Unisys
future results is contained in its periodic filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
###



to post comments

Unisys Delivers Industrial Strength Linux

Posted Aug 2, 2004 19:35 UTC (Mon) by marduk (guest, #3831) [Link]

Hmmm, is this the same Unisys that co-runs the anti-Unix web site along with Microsoft???

The same UNISYS who...

Posted Aug 2, 2004 19:35 UTC (Mon) by Cardinal_Bill (subscriber, #23688) [Link] (1 responses)

launched an "I hate UNIX" campaign in March of 2002 with the assistance of Microsoft?
<http://news.com.com/2100-1001-870805.html>>

The same UNISYS who...

Posted Aug 2, 2004 21:05 UTC (Mon) by clugstj (subscriber, #4020) [Link]

It would appear that the "I Hate UNIX" campaign has failed.

Unisys Delivers Industrial Strength Linux

Posted Aug 2, 2004 19:37 UTC (Mon) by piman (guest, #8957) [Link]

Don't forget that they also owned the LZW patent.

Just like HP

Posted Aug 2, 2004 22:09 UTC (Mon) by lakeland (guest, #1157) [Link]

There seems to be a huge range of opinions within the one company. HP is
one of the 'good guys', right? They support linux and help with
development and ... But try buying a HP computer with linux preinstalled,
or at least avoiding the MS tax, or try ringing up their customer service
line and saying you are having problems with their printer under linux: "I
am sorry sir, we do not support any system with linux installed, including
dual-boot".

Similarly, Unisys is one of the 'bad guys'. In my book they're one of the
worst -- they have spouted lies in the past in the hope that nobody will
catch them out on them. Perhaps they're right, but I'll never forgive
them, and I've already ensured they've lost one (unrelated) contract as a
result... However, it seems customer demand is such that unisys has to be
seen as supporting linux.

'tis a crazy world we live in, where every company must appear to be all
things to all people. Whatever happened to companies picking a market
segment and helping them, leaving other segments to other comapnies?


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