Stratus supports Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Buyers of Stratus high-availability servers will be able to choose 64bit RHEL in place of the firm's proprietary 32bit Linux

Fault tolerant server specialist Stratus will begin offering full support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) running on its latest generation of server hardware from Monday 19 June. This news marks the first time a mainstream 64bit Linux distribution will be offered on Stratus’s unique fault tolerant hardware. Previously, the only Linux option for the high-availability (HA) server vendor's kit was Stratus’s own proprietary 32bit Linux.

Nathaniel Martinez of analyst firm IDC said the move would enable Stratus to go after the big Unix clusters in the HA market and also to sell into firms currently using large HP-UX systems.

Stratus servers contain two full sets of server hardware. Each set runs exactly the same software in lock step, so if a component in one set fails the other can take over immediately with no downtime or lost transactions.

In order to run Linux on its unique server hardware, Stratus needed to develop software to resynchronise both sets of RAM, and also to develop hardened driver software for the network and disk controllers used in its server products. All this code has now been integrated into RHEL. Andy Bailey, Stratus availability consultant, said it would not be too difficult to add this software to another Linux distribution if required. However, he stressed that high availability systems require more than just suitable server systems. "It's also about people and processes," he added. Hence Stratus is also announcing a range of new service and remote management options to complement the new Linux offerings.

Stratus is also using the new Linux software as the base for a new stack designed for telecoms providers. The new Call Convergence Solution for Mobile Service Providers enables mobile network operators to offer businesses dual mode phones that work seamlessly on both their own WiFi networks and a teleco's 2G or 3G phone network. Currently the solution would be installed in a service p rovider network. Carolyn Read, Stratus senior segment marketing manager, said, "We could offer this to enterprises in the future, but at the moment it links from a mobile network to an enterprise." Lack of suitable call-signalling interfaces means it cannot link from an enterprise to a mobile network provider, Read added.