12.18.08
Gemini version available ♊︎Novell Dumped for Red Hat (Again)
Indian Express Migrates to Red Hat Solutions to Cost-Effectively Scale for the Future
Monday December 15, 8:00 am ET
Media Firm Implements Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 for High Availability, Security, Reliability and Flexibility
RALEIGH, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT – News), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that The Indian Express Group, one of India’s most well-known media firms that maintains several well-known national publications in the region, has migrated from Novell Netware to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to provide a solid foundation to cost-effectively scale with accelerated company growth. Red Hat solutions have helped Indian Express Group to carve costs out of its IT infrastructure, while maintaining high availability, reliability, security and transparency.
Indian Express Group’s backbone LAN servers were previously powered by the Novell Netware 3.12 operating system. With Netware, the group faced obstacles, including the limitations of client licenses. It was also challenged by complex and expensive maintenance that limited its critical agility. It was clear that Indian Express Group needed to evaluate a solution that would not only meet existing needs cost-effectively, but give the group the reliability it needed for the future.
Faced with the challenge of adapting to consumer and technological demands in a competitive media industry, Indian Express Group turned to Red Hat to carve out costs, while simultaneously scaling its critical IT infrastructure. Indian Express Group implemented SAP on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to streamline business processes, enable easier management of its systems and achieve information transparency across its many locations around the country.
“Our top priority was to ensure uniformity, standardization and compatibility of operations, while building the IT foundation for us to accelerate quickly in the future without any limits – either imposed by technology or the vendor,” said Tridib Bordoloi, CIO, Indian Express Group. “In the media industry, we cannot afford to have downtime. Hence, high availability is a critical need. We also evaluated platforms with respect to the TCO, future readiness, and ability to scale. We chose Red Hat Enterprise Linux because the solution could deliver on all of our needs, and we had internal familiarity with the solution because we’ve effectively run our file and print servers on Red Hat Enterprise Linux for some time.”
“The selection of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 was an obvious choice, as it fulfilled all the requirements we envisioned for building a future-ready platform. We are all for open standards, and did not want to be tied down to a single vendor. Red Hat gives us the flexibility to change to a different hardware platform, if necessary,” said Bordoloi.
With ease-of-use, the opportunity to preserve existing investments and the ability to scale cost-effectively without subsequent investments in hardware, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 has given Indian Express Group the ability to move forward with its business goals without technology constraints. Like other national newspapers, the smooth transfer of stories and pages within the organization and across locations is vital.
“In addition to high availability and reliability, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 gives us access to features such as clustering and integrated virtualization that would otherwise have only been possible through the purchase of additional third-party solutions,” said Bordoloi.
The group uses Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) 10g as its database, with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 as the platform. This combination provides the group increased flexibility and significantly reduced operational costs. For example, the Express Group can now dynamically provision nodes, storage or CPUs to lower costs and improve utilization.
“With the combination of cost, flexibility and reliability, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 has truly exceeded our expectations. When compared to contemporary solutions, the TCO is very low. More importantly, Red Hat’s security features enabled through the Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) functionality, has given us peace of mind, vis-à-vis other platforms that are facing new vulnerabilities and threats almost every day,” said Bordoloi.
Indian Express Group is a trendsetter in the open source industry in India with its early implementation of open source technologies. Including mail servers, file servers, SAP and even the company’s website, the group has utilized Red Hat Enterprise Linux at the backend for many years with success.
“The Indian Express Group happens to be one of the earliest users of SAP on RAC in the region,” said Bordoloi. “The Express Group has always been on the forefront of publishing high-quality articles that can positively change the society we live in. Hence, when it was revealed in a recent Network World test that Red Hat Enterprise Linux was named the Greenest Operating System, pulling as much as 12 percent less power than Windows 2008 on identical hardware, we were overjoyed with our choice and the small contribution we are making to make the world a better place to live in,” said Bordoloi.
To read the full Indian Express Group case study, visit www.customers.press.redhat.com.
To learn more about how Red Hat can help customers carve out costs in their IT infrastructure, visit www.redhat.com/carveoutcosts.com.
For more news about Red Hat, visit www.redhat.com. For more news, more often, visit www.press.redhat.com.
About Red Hat, Inc.
Red Hat, the world’s leading open source solutions provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with over 65 offices spanning the globe. CIOs have ranked Red Hat first for value in Enterprise Software for four consecutive years in the CIO Insight Magazine Vendor Value survey. Red Hat provides high-quality, affordable technology with its operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, together with applications, management and Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions, including JBoss Enterprise Middleware. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting services to its customers worldwide. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; the ability of the Company to effectively compete; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; risks related to data and information security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of, and control over, the Company’s growth and international operations; adverse results in litigation; and changes in and a dependence on key personnel, as well as other factors contained in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (copies of which may be accessed through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov), including those found therein under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.
LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT® and JBOSS® are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the US and other countries.
Contact:
Red Hat, Inc. Media Contact: Kerri Catallozzi, 919-754-4268 kcatallo@redhat.com
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Baby In The Bath Water said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:09 pm
You might note that Novell NetWare 3.12 was EOL’d in 2002, so technically they weren’t Novell customers anymore after that point and so couldn’t be “dumped”.
Note: this comment was posted from Novell’s headquarters.
jo Shields said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:09 pm
What happened to regurgitating press releases being a terrible crime?
I mean, it’s interesting in isolation, and moving from a proprietary platform like Netware to a Free OS is a good thing… but weren’t you bitching about this exact same thing a few days ago?
Baby In The Bath Water said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Notes on NetWare 3.2, the upgrade to 3.12:
So this company wasn’t even running server software that was y2k compliant. Nice.
Oh, and excuse me, but just to be clear, all of the 3.x series of NetWare were EOL’d in 2002. Not just 3.12
Note: this comment was posted from Novell’s headquarters.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:18 pm
They did not carry on with Novell.
Baby In The Bath Water said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Are you going to tell us that the reason was because of the MS-Novell deal, now?
Afterall, it’s clear that they stopped being Novell customers at least 4 years before the MS-Novell deal. NetWare 3.12 was released in fall of 1998, so they may have stopped being Novell customers 10 years ago for all we know.
Note: this comment was posted from Novell’s headquarters.
Baby In The Bath Water said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:25 pm
And NetWare 3.2 (the upgrade to 3.12 that was fully y2k compliant) was released in 1999, so my guess is that it’s very likely they stopped being customers in 1999, before the NetWare 3.2 update was released.
That means they’ve been no one’s customers since 1999, almost 10 years now.
Novell weren’t “dumped” in favor of Red Hat, Red Hat simply picked up a customer who was stranded.
Note: this comment was posted from Novell’s headquarters.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Did I say that?
Baby In The Bath Water said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Correction: NetWare 3.2 was released in July 1998, NetWare 3.12 was released no later than April 1997.
Apparently I was a year off in my remembering although it doesn’t hurt my argument.
Note: this comment was posted from Novell’s headquarters.
Baby In The Bath Water said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Did I say you did?
Note: this comment was posted from Novell’s headquarters.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:34 pm
@jo Shields,
I wish I could find a real article/report about it, but all I can find junk derivatives of the press release, such as this one from yesterday (17th):
Look carefully and you’ll see it’s a shadow of the press release.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 18, 2008 at 12:38 pm
@Baby In The Bath Water
it was a shrewd attempt to put words in my mouth.
Ian said,
December 18, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I’d be curious to know what their criteria for choosing a platform was. Going from Bindery NetWare to RHEL is quite a jump in a different direction. Unfortunately press releases don’t provide that info.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 18, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Should we inquire? Our good friends in India can do that.
Ian said,
December 18, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I’d be interested to read why.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 18, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I’ve just asked someone to inquire through Indian Express and see why they chose Red Hat. Or chose it instead of other vendors, such as Novell.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 19, 2008 at 8:06 am
The Maureen O’Gara shill has just covered this:
Sebastiaan Veld said,
December 20, 2008 at 5:01 am
“The Indian Express Group, one of subcontinent’s better known media firms, says it’s migrated from Novell Netware 3.12 operating system to Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 to scale while keeping costs in line.”
Costs is a fair argument to migrate to a new solution in general. Tough NetWare/OES does provide some services that (in this case) RHEL does not provice and which they clearly do not need anymore.
“With Netware, the company reportedly faced obstacles, including the limitations of client licenses. It was also challenged by complex and expensive maintenance that limited its agility.”
I can image that; NetWare 3.12 does only provide a good IPX stack to get access to NetWare services. Client license are indeed a problem, they were not able to buy them for several years now with the product EOL for quite some time.. It’s like trying to maintain Windows 3.11 or an early Linux disto on current hardware.
“The company’s CIO said, “In addition to high availability and reliability, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 gives us access to features such as clustering and integrated virtualization that would otherwise have only been possible through the purchase of additional third-party solutions.””
I believe these solutions are also out of the box available with SLES.
Dan O'Brian said,
December 20, 2008 at 8:16 am
Roy: if she’s a “shill”, meaning she gets paid by Microsoft or Novell, then why is her article reporting from a pro Red Hat and anti-Novell position in this article?
Sounds more like you haven’t liked what she’s stated in the past (her research contradicts your lack of research, perhaps?) and so you’ve unfairly labeled her as a shill.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 20, 2008 at 8:22 am
The history and pattern of coverage speaks loudly enough.
Roy Bixler said,
December 20, 2008 at 9:25 am
You can find a summary of some of O’Gara’s work here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groklaw#Media_controversy
I would not characterise her as a neutral or ethical journalist.
Roy Schestowitz said,
December 20, 2008 at 9:38 am
Her work is ‘monitored’ and discussed in the IRC channel routinely. She’s taking shots at companies other than the Microsoft|Novell axis; also, she hates GNU/FSF/RMS with passion, and she shows it.
Look at the link (evidence) that I gave above about her “planting” anti-Linux stories for Microsoft.