Red Hat founds ‘Xerox PARC for Linux clustering’

Linux distributor Red Hat has clearly come to think of itself as a latter day Xerox -- today it announced the formation of a PARC-style research centre charged with developing "world class" Linux clustering technology. To be fair to Red Hat, the prime motivator here appears to be its partner Alpha Processor (API), the Samsung-Compaq joint venture. The clustering technology the centre -- to be based at Red Hat's facility in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina -- will create is aimed at promoting Alpha as a server platform. The message here is clear: if you want to combine Linux servers for performance, you'll be much better off doing it with Alpha kit, honest. API's contribution to the centre is 32 dual-processor PowerRAC systems for Red Hat's clustering software guys to play with. Presumably the software side of the centre's research will appear first in the Alpha version of Red Hat's eponymous Linux distribution, but since the work will be carried out as an open source project, it will eventually appear in the Intel and Sparc versions of Red Hat Linux too. Indeed, Red Hat was keen to stress the open source aspect of the deal and its similarity to the company's other think-tank project, the Red Hat Center for Open Source. "If we are going to deliver true world-class performance, we need to enable Linux developers to work for a common goal," said Red Hat's director of clustering technologies, Mike Wangsmo. "Our collaboration with API gives us access to a world-class resource to further the development of Linux clustering solutions... and the ability to accelerate the development of clustering technology for the Linux community." ®