ENGINEERING

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Turbolinux, a provider of software that automates the configuration and deployment of computing power for any data processing need, today announced Turbolinux PowerCockpit(TM) for easy deploying and provisioning of Linux servers. By dramatically reducing the time it takes to deploy or redeploy servers, Turbolinux PowerCockpit makes using Linux simpler, faster, and less expensive. PowerCockpit enables instant reconfiguration of computing systems, representing a radical shift in the way servers are currently defined and creating enormous ramifications for every segment of the marketplace. For instance, manufacturers can benefit from simplified system configuration through automation and IT managers can reconfigure and redeploy systems as the need arises, recycling computing power on demand. Web servers, for example, can become application servers in 10 minutes or less using just a few simple commands. "PowerCockpit fundamentally changes the way the industry can view computing power and its management," said Ly-Huong Pham, CEO of Turbolinux. "Computers should be flexible machines able to complete almost any processing job or handle any software. PowerCockpit fulfills that vision. And that has huge implications. Over time, we're talking about a world where machines aren't classified by the software they run, like a Web server or a database server, but rather by the strength of their processing power." PowerCockpit is already attracting industry attention with Fujitsu Japan immediately providing early praise for the technology. "Fujitsu is excited to implement Turbolinux's PowerCockpit technology," said Akira Ozora, General Manager of Fujitsu Limited Software Group Division. "PowerCockpit represents a radical shift in server management. The ability to flexibly deploy and redeploy Linux servers adds terrific value to our hardware customers." Collect, Image, Deploy With conventional technology, configuration involves an administrator manually installing the Linux OS, applying upgrades, patches, and security fixes, installing and properly configuring application software, (such as IBM WebSphere or Oracle 8i), user accounts, security options, networking parameters, and service daemons. This whole process can often take two days per server, but seems to change each and every time the administrator deploys a new system. With PowerCockpit's new technology, a system administrator can configure a Linux solution once and then `collect' an `image' from the fully configured server and place it into a repository -- capturing the administrator's expertise. With a few easy steps, this same image can be `deployed' to a rack of machines or to dozens of servers throughout the enterprise -- successfully reusing the administrator's knowledge. Once in the repository, flexible computing is easy: an administrator picks an image and disk layout -- for instance, Turbolinux with IBM's WebSphere or Red Hat with Apache -- and then PowerCockpit dynamically configures and deploys the image. PowerCockpit also automatically copes with the most frequent differences in hardware between the image and the target machine, such as different disk controllers, disk sizes or Ethernet cards. PowerCockpit works with Linux distributions from Red Hat, SuSE and others in addition to all Turbolinux environments. "As demand increases for centralized servers that host content, applications, and services, ISPs, ASPs, and remote hosting facilities must be able to quickly deploy and redeploy several types of Linux servers -- from proxy cache to web, or from firewall to database." said Pete Beckman, vice president of engineering for Turbolinux and director of TurboLabs. "PowerCockpit accelerates and automates server deployment and provisioning, eliminating human error, enabling remote installations, standardizing enterprise-wide solution stacks, and dramatically reducing the time, complexity, and money required. The net result is that the process of managing a data center of computing power -- regardless of size -- becomes dramatically simpler." For additional information visit www.turbolinux.com