In the technology world, there is a vast difference between technophiles and IT professionals working in a business environment. Technophiles tend to be highly caffeinated power users who can't wait to get their hands on the latest technologies and put them through their paces. Business-based IT professionals take a much more conservative approach to technology. They don't try to fix things that aren't broken, and they usually don't upgrade to new versions of software unless there are some serious benefits involved. Although some IT pros may moonlight as technophiles during nonworking hours and dabble in the latest technologies, they tend to stick with well-seasoned software and systems in the organisations where they work. Red Hat, the incumbent leader of the Linux market, has shown that it understands this dichotomy and has recently recast its Linux product line to meet the needs of both groups of techies. Making the corporate move
Since the late 1990s, Linux has been steadily gaining ground in businesses as it has been adopted for use in front-end Web servers, DNS servers, firewalls, file and print servers, and other basic networking functions. However, these deployments have mostly been limited to small businesses and low-level edge servers in larger networks. More than any other Linux distribution, Red Hat has catered its flavor of Linux to suit the corporate palette and thus has gained the majority of the corporate market in the United States. Because Red Hat has focused its brand of Linux on business use, it has taken a much more cautious and reserved approach to incorporating bleeding edge technologies and programs into its distribution. But even though this approach has helped Red Hat Linux become more entrenched in businesses, it has turned away some Linux enthusiasts and technophiles who want to stay up to date with all the advances of Linux software. Since many of these Linux enthusiasts are also volunteer programmers and/or evangelists for the open source operating system, Red Hat knows that it needs to appeal to these folks as well. The company seems to have found a way to better serve both sides of the Linux audience. Red Hat Enterprise Linux
At the beginning of last year, Red Hat released Red Hat Linux Advanced Server, a souped-up version of its Linux operating system. It was engineered to include higher level server functionality, such as clustering and load balancing, and could accommodate bigger servers with a greater numbers of processors and larger amounts of RAM. In addition, Red Hat Linux Advanced Server offered more comprehensive support and service options -- a must when dealing with enterprise business customers. Red Hat Linux Advanced Server was a hit with customers, especially those who had been longing for a truly enterprise Linux solution. It also spurred a number of deals with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and independent software vendors (ISVs). That further extended the impact of Red Hat Linux in the enterprise by having the product coupled with established server hardware from companies such as IBM and Dell and supported and guaranteed to work with enterprise software from companies such as Oracle and BEA. Now, the company has extended the Advanced Server initiative and molded it into a new product line called Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which now includes three products.