Sun puts its weight behind Ubuntu Linux

Sun Microsystems has revealed plans to offer support for the Ubuntu server Linux distribution on its T1 server line, the company said at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco, VnuNet reports.

"We will be aggressively supporting the work that Ubuntu has been doing," Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz said. "The ideals of that community are relatively familiar to us."

Sun`s T1 servers use the company`s Niagara multi-core processor. The systems were launched last December and are certified for Solaris only.

Apple has closed down the ability to roll your own kernel for the Intel-based build of OS X, according to GearLive.com.

This news purportedly comes from Apple`s fear of piracy, which sadly seems justifiable when one looks at how quickly the Intel version spread in the wild, says the article.

The source code required to build a customised OS X kernel, however, is gone, says MacWorld; and Apple explains that the state of an OS X-compatible open source x86 Darwin kernel is "in flux".

IT consulting and software solutions providers, INS, have announced Virtualisation Services - a package of end-to-end services designed to assist businesses with the virtualisation lifecycle.

"The foremost opportunity for virtualisation for most large organisations is consolidation and containment of their servers and applications, which are typically underutilised and difficult to manage in a widely distributed environment," writes GridToday.com.

According to Forrester Research`s February report, titled "Server virtualisation goes mainstream": "Server virtualisation, unlike most other emerging transformative IT infrastructure technologies, offers firms practical benefits today, in addition to long-term transformational potential".