Applications Management Engineer Sr (NYC) Next Step Systems US-NY-New York Post A Job | Post A Resume

Mandrakesoft announced today the availability of two new products geared toward business customers; Corporate Server and Corporate Desktop. These two Linux systems have received specific development efforts to make them "enterprise-ready." The two products feature longer development cycles and a 5-year maintenance span.

Although Mandrakesoft's main focus has been to make Linux available to the largest number of users, the company has also acknowledged, very early, that Linux required specific adaptations to be functional in a business environment. Mandrakesoft introduced the first version of Corporate Server in September 2000, followed by a second version in early 2003--two products which have received quite an enthusiastic response.

The new version, introduced today, has been thoroughly overhauled to include some major new features. Mandrakesoft's range of enterprise products extends to include Corporate Desktop; a Linux system for business desktop computing.

Both products have been designed to make deployment as simple, fast and painless as possible. The goal has been to keep them efficient and adaptable. In the now-established Mandrakelinux tradition, both feature extensive hardware auto-detection and numerous configuration wizards to get started as fast as possible. They are also very flexible, in the sense that the user-friendly interface does not lock away the administrator from system internals--they have full latitude for tuning Corporate Server and Desktop in every way, and adapt them to a specific environment.

The new Corporate Server, based on a 2.6 kernel, is fit for almost any server task. It has configuration wizards for setting it up as a file server, print server, Web server, directory server, FTP server, and a dozen others. It is also compatible with IBM's database server, DB2. Auto-installation through PXE is remarkably easy. There are unique tools (DrakPark and Mandrakeonline Pro) for facilitating site-wide software maintenance, based on Mandrakelinux's state-of-the-art urpmi system. Enterprise hardware, such as S-ATA drives, is supported out-of-the box on 32 and 64-bit platforms.

Corporate Desktop was made for the coming wave of Linux adoption: Linux on the desktop. Although it is a natural match to Corporate Server, it can be made to fit in any heterogeneous environment. A lot of effort has gone into ensuring interoperability: Drakauth, for example, lets administrators choose between several authentication and directory systems--LDAP of course, but also Active Directory.

Corporate Desktop only carries software that has been thoroughly tested and known to be appropriate for a business setting. It is immediately usable as a workstation for office/productivity tasks, groupware and email, and its extensible design means it can be used for other tasks as well (development for example).

Both Corporate Server and Corporate Desktop benefit from a longer development and test cycle over home editions of Mandrakelinux, and from the feedback given by Mandrakesoft's enterprise customers. These systems can be blindly relied on for production use. The five-year maintenance cycle is meant to fit in with the natural pace of product renewal in IT departments. Support is of course also included, with various options for scope and span.

Part of the added value is also in the commercial software included, which ranges from Citrix and NX clients to CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office Server Edition.

"It's quite challenging to design enterprise products, because the needs of businesses are more difficult to assess and to cater for. But we've listened to our customers, we've dedicated the necessary time and resources to the task, and now I must say we're quite proud of what has been achieved. I think going for Mandrakesoft Corporate Server and Corporate Desktop is a pretty coherent business decision, even more than just going for Linux, which everybody is doing or about to do anyway," said François Bancilhon, Mandrakesoft CEO.

Corporate Server and Corporate Desktop are available now for pre-order. More information is available at: http://www.mandrakesoft/business/corporate-server

Related Stories:
OfB.biz: Just About Right: Revisiting Mandrake 9.2 and Fedora Core 1(Apr 06, 2004)
VNUNet: Mandrake Powerpack 9.2 [Review](Mar 26, 2004)
PR: Mandrake Linux Corporate Server 2.1 for Opteron Released(Apr 22, 2003)
Enterprise Linux Today: MandrakeSoft Releases Mandrake Corporate Server 2.1(Feb 06, 2003)

Index Mode   |   Flat Mode   |   Thread Mode   |   Thread Flat     Talkback(s) Name  and Date   Corporate Environments    wolf Jan 4, 2005, 18:40:10     I love drake....    Jason Greenwood Jan 5, 2005, 11:11:10     Home | Search Talkbacks | Customize View    Top of Page   Enter your comments below: * Your Name: * Your Email Address: * Subject: CC: [will also send this talkback to an E-Mail address] * Comments: Tags allowed:<I>,<B> and <U>. See our talkback-policy for more about talkback content. Fields marked with * are required!