“Telia.net offers classic ISP-style mailbox and homepage
provision to home users. That is: static content, fan sites, puppy
photos, and so on. The organisation uses a mixture of Sun
Microsystems’ Solaris and Compaq Alpha machines for these web
applications. Both are now being kicked out at Telia.net, in favour
of the bigger IBM box. For Sun, in particular, this spells
trouble.”
“At LinuxWorld, the IBM mainframe – now renamed the IBM eServer
z900 – won best of show, by demonstrating thousands of virtual
Linux servers running simultaneously. It takes a few seconds to get
another partition up and running. That could just as easily be a
new business customer for the ISP. The economics quickly assert
themselves. The real cost is management and people, with fewer
boxes meaning fewer staff.”
“A few more such wins could force Sun to be a lot less
equivocal about Linux. Could the firm be forced to remake the
E10000 as a partitioned Linux server? Well, Sun is losing deals to
Unix competitors. It also has a rejuvenated IBM mainframe to
contend with, and service providers, one of its key markets, love
Linux. Just ask Telia.net.”