Database adds 64bit Linux option

Database server works as a black-box, or sealed environment

Data warehouse specialist Teradata has begun beta testing a version of its database running on Novell's 64bit Suse Linux Enterprise 9 operating system. Currently customers can buy the database hosted on 32bit operating systems - either Teradata's Unix MP-RAS or the Windows Server 2003 operating system.

Scott Gnau, Teradata's vice-president of research and development, said the database server works as a black-box, or sealed environment, so the operating system on which it is running is largely invisible to users. However, the move significantly boosts the credibility of Linux as an operating system for mission-critical enterprise applications. Teradata's largest customers currently have over 500 terabytes of data in their warehouse systems, and Teradata's revenues last year were over $1bn.

The move could also help firms integrate a Teradata database with their other systems. "The adoption of Linux further enables the Teradata enterprise data warehouse to integrate seamlessly with even the most complex and open IT architectures," Gnau said.

Whether other users of the Linux kernel would benefit from the move is currently unclear. Teradata will release under an open-source licence the kernel-space components that it has added to Suse Linux for this project, such as its inter-process communication drivers.

"These things are very specialised to what we do so I doubt anyone else would pick them up and change them," Gnau said.

However, Teradata is not boxing itself into a Linux strategy. "We will also next year offer a 64bit Windows option for the Teradata database," Gnau said. " The new options mean we can spend our R&D budget on innovations in our software stack rather than maintaining our own Unix operating system,"

Teradata will continue to offer MP-RAS-based systems until 2010, and will provide support for them until 2015. The Linux version is due for delivery to selected customers late this year and will be generally available in March next year.