Novell today announced new enhancements to SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time and unveiled new partnerships that expand the ecosystem around Novell's low latency Linux solution. SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, the only enterprise-class, open source real-time operating system offered by an enterprise Linux distributor today, is a high performance, customizable, fully supported solution for running mission-critical applications that require deterministic processing and speed. As a result, customers can run their time sensitive mission-critical applications reliably and predictably, even under severe system loads, with SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time.
“SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time provides customers a flexible, open standards‑based operating system to maximize the performance of their time sensitive workloads, such as trading applications in the financial sector,” said Ken Barnes, vice president, Business & Planning at Wombat Financial Software. “The improvements Novell is delivering this summer, as well as the vision for this technology farther out, makes it clear Novell intends to continue providing valuable innovations for the capital markets.”
Built on top of SUSE Linux Enterprise's desktop to data center platform, SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time contains the kernel enhancements, packages, tools and utilities that create a robust, high performance, deterministic and low latency operating system. Novell builds SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time in conjunction with Concurrent Computer Corporation (NASDAQ: CCUR), a leading provider of real-time Linux software technology. With real-time technology, customers can segment portions of their processors, network bandwidth and other hardware for high-priority mission-critical workloads. This ensures that these workloads are not interrupted by systems calls made by lower-priority workloads or system tasks, delivering predictable performance in time-critical environments.
Product Improvements
Novell will ship a maintenance update for SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time in July 2007. This maintenance update delivers new performance enhancements to the real-time operating system. It inherits the improvements and enhancements associated with the recently launched Service Pack 1 for SUSE Linux Enterprise, including new high availability storage and processor support. This update also incorporates support for the latest open source InfiniBand software stack, Open Fabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) 1.2, an emerging industry standard for server and storage connectivity.
The next generation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, which is currently in development, will focus on significantly improving latency and performance, not only for applications with relatively fewer threads that can be prioritized and shielded, but also for massively threaded applications with low latency requirements, such as real time Java messaging. There is significant innovation around real-time functionality in the open source community in which Novell is participating, including, among other things, work on kernel locking optimizations (to reduce busy wait), priority inheritance, execution of interrupts in kernel threads with definable priority and high resolution timers that improve synchronization and process accounting. Enterprises interested in testing the next generation of SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time and providing feedback that will help shape its ongoing development can apply today for the beta program at http://www.novell.com/beta/auth/request_form.jsp.
New Partnerships
In support of its real time offerings, Novell also announced today partnerships with key players in the real time arena. These included:
Concurrent Computer Corporation - Concurrent’s field-proven NightStarTM* advanced analysis and debugging software now supports SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time from Novell®. Novell is now reselling NightStar tools, offering customers the ability to minimize data latencies, reduce costs and improve efficiency throughout the data center.
Voltaire – Novell and Voltaire are delivering a combined solution to increase transaction rates, lower latency and improve CPU utilization. The combined solution consists of SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, Voltaire Grid Backbone™* InfiniBand-based switching solutions, OFED 1.2 InfiniBand software, and additional functionality from Voltaire.
“SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time delivers tested, enterprise-quality solutions that result in system-wide near zero latency, from the operating system to the application layer,” said Roger Levy, general manager for Open Platform Solutions at Novell. “Today's announcement confirms Novell's leadership position in the real-time market, and is a direct result of our close collaboration with the open source community. The leadership of SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time is reinforced by our expanded list of partners with whom we are collaborating to deliver new value to our mutual customers.”
Availability
SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time can be purchased today. The maintenance update for SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time will be available in July. The next generation release of SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time is currently in development. As with all SUSE Linux Enterprise products, customers with a current subscription can upgrade to any released version at any time without additional charge.