InfoWorld: Linux 2.4 breaks the enterprise barrier

“With its more robust SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) support,
improved reliability, and increased driver availability for
high-end hardware, the 2.4 kernel makes Linux an even stronger
contender in the enterprise space. This version has been long in
coming, but the extensive testing and optimizations make it a
perfect fit in high-performance, mission-critical
situations….”

“Released a year later than first projected, the kernel was
exhaustively debugged and improved. Members of the development team
are currently working on in-depth security audits of Version 2.4
and the current stable kernels. This will increase the overall
security and reliability of Linux-based systems, which is vital for
those deploying mission-critical solutions on the Linux OS.”

“Scalability is another big issue in large environments. Version
2.2 of the Linux kernel can scale well only to as many as four
processors, whereas many high-end systems ship with eight and 16
CPUs. But the revised 2.4 kernel can handle 16 or more processors
without taking a large performance hit in coordinating tasks among
CPUs. Linux can now move into these high-end environments without
creating a performance bottleneck.”

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