The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) made a series of announcements Monday at its user conference designed to demonstrate both the software vendor's increased commitment to Linux and highlight the transfer of two of its divisions to Linux distribution company Caldera Systems.
Earlier this month, Caldera announced plans to acquire two SCO divisions -- Server Software and Professional Services -- leaving the Unix vendor with Tarantella Inc. -- the part of SCO focused on software and services that help Web-enable applications. With Caldera's acquisition of the pair of SCO units due to become final in October, SCO will take on the Tarantella name as its official corporate identity, SCO said Monday. Both the renaming and the purchase of SCO's two businesses for US$7 million in cash and 28 percent of Caldera's stock depend on shareholder and regulatory approval. [See "Caldera's SCO Grab Brings Great Promise," Aug. 7.]The two companies have already made plans to join Caldera's OpenLinux with SCO's Open Server and UnixWare to develop Open Internet Platform (OIP) for ISPs (Internet service providers) and companies alike. OIP combines Linux and Unix server applications and services. Monday's announcement follow in these efforts to integrate the two vendors' technology.
In an effort to bring Unix into the Linux business market, SCO Monday said it has developed the Linux Kernel Personality (LKP) for UnixWare 7. While keeping the major Unix attributes intact, the LKP technology helps unify UnixWare with Linux at the kernel level and includes a complete Linux environment.
Additionally, Linux applications can be installed and run on UnixWare 7 without the need for modification -- features the company said will give users a chance to utilize Linux applications and middleware.
Additionally, SCO's Server Software division Monday promoted a suite of enterprise support services to help customers with business and time-critical problems. Compaq Computer and Unisys have agreed to implement these services and will have SCO train and certify IT professionals on UnixWare 7 and UnixWare 7 NonStop Clusters software. Compaq and Unisys will sweeten the deal by giving business-critical support to SCO customers, the pair said in a statement.
SCO Tuesday is due to give details on a deal with Nortel Networks Corp. and Computer Associates International Inc. (CA) that will outline joint initiatives in the ASP (application service provider) market, according to a SCO spokeswoman. She said that customers have been asking SCO for this kind of collaboration.
SCO, based in Santa Cruz, California, can be reached at +1-831-425-7222 or http://www.sco.com/. Caldera, based in Orem, Utah, is at +1-801-765-4999 or http://www.calderasystems.com/.