"Scalability used to be the straw that broke Linux's back. That's not the case anymore, according to Matt O'Keefe, CTO of Sistina Software Inc., in Minneapolis, Minn. 'With a Linux cluster, an IT shop can design the system from the get-go so that it can handle very large amounts of data,' he said. From 1990 to May 2000, O'Keefe taught and performed research in the areas of storage systems and parallel simulation software at the University of Minnesota. Unable to find a storage solution for the complex data they were gathering, he decided to create one himself using Linux clusters and storage area network (SAN) technologies. He founded Sistina, a storage infrastructure company, in 1997. In this interview, O'Keefe and Joaquin Ruiz, Sistina's marketing and product management vice president, discuss why Linux is a viable and scalable enterprise platform and describe the strengths that resulted from pairing Linux and SANs.
"Why do you think that Linux is gaining acceptance as an enterprise-level platform?
"O'Keefe: Look at technologies making enterprise Linux really happen. The Linux 2.4 release is a base-level server operating system that can cover a fair number of bases in the enterprise. Also, Linux and Intel have become a great team. In Intel PC server hardware, the industry continues to offer bigger and better processors. That's why recent studies have shown that Intel server revenues are now exceeding revenues of customized Unix systems built on RISC systems..."
