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Hosting Goes Virtual
This trend of acceptance by major hardware players has certainly helped nudge service providers, large and small, toward Linux hosting solutions. In January 2001, for example, IBM Global Services (www.ibm.com) announced it would spend $330 million over three years to deploy a range of Linux services, including Linux-based e-business solutions, open-source education, and Web/high-availability cluster design.
Another substantial hosting provider, NTT/Verio (www.verio.com), offers seven standard hosting packages running over Red Hat Linux, bundled with the Apache Web server. Some of the giants, like WorldCom (www.worldcom.com), remain holdouts, but nobody expects that to last (WorldCom might not survive long enough to make a decision).
Smaller hosting companies are also buying into Linux. Typical is the deal recently announced by Hewlett-Packard/Compaq, under which it would bring Linux to RackShack (www.rackspace.com), a subsidiary of consumer DSL provider Everyones Internet. Under the terms of the deal, Compaq will equip RackShack's datacenters with 1,000 ProLiant DL320 servers. Everyones Internet also plans to purchase an additional 8,000 to 10,000 servers over the next two to three years.
Hosting providers, particularly those with existing Linux- or Unix-friendly system administrators, are picking up Linux partly as a means of dishing out affordable standard hosting packages. After all, a company whose administrators understand Unix can adapt to Linux systems without too much trouble.
Linux is proving to have other handy benefits as well. It has increasingly stood out as a tool for offering virtual dedicated hosting at shared-hosting prices. When configured properly, multiprocessor Web systems can run multiple instances of the Linux kernel, offering users the look and feel of a dedicated server system at a far lower price.
A handful of Linux community projects, including the User-mode Linux Kernel effort (user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net), are working to make it safe and secure to offer customers their own Linux virtual machine. Meanwhile, blade servers rolling out from upstart companies like Egenera (www.egenera.com) and Jareva (www.jareva.com) - not to mention hardware vendors like Dell - make running multiple instances of the Linux kernel look easier and cheaper than before.
At least one hosting provider is building its entire business around virtual hosting services over Linux. Startup hosting provider Usonyx (www.usonyx.com) is specializing in offering Linux-based "virtual private servers" to its clients, using SWsoft's Virtuozzo (www.sw-soft.com) technology to manage the service.
Usonyx General Manager Carlos Flores says virtual hosting is 75 percent cheaper to provide than standard hosting, mainly due to reduced hardware infrastructure costs. He plans to pass those savings along to customers. The firm, which launched in January, is currently offering its entry-level virtual private server product at $34.99, but plans to drop that price to a shared-hosting-like $9.99 per month shortly.
"What I'm predicting, seeing the cost savings I've already experienced and projecting, is that I'm going to have the opportunity to wipe out shared hosting as an option," Flores says.
It could be a while before the bulk of the hosting industry follows Usonyx's lead. Although clustering and other virtual server technologies are intriguing, they are not yet mature enough to win over most hosting execs, says the Aberdeen Group's Bill Claybrook, research director for Linux, Open Source Software, and Unix.
"Hosting providers are looking for something that works in a production environment," Claybrook says. "Even with a new solution that looks good, you're going to want to test it out."
The Right Reasons
Most buyers now understand Linux better than they did, and that bodes well for Linux's future as a mainstream OS. These days, when companies finally do choose to host an application or website on Linux, they are doing it for more of the "right" reasons - for its technical strengths rather than its high profile - and appreciate hosting providers that can help them get practical work done.
"A lot of companies in the Linux market got a lot of press and then faded into oblivion," Elmendorf says. "Linux was part of all of the [tech boom] hype, but now it's not a buzzword-laden technology any more. Either it works or you don't use it."
Linux-happy, cost-conscious Rackspace now supports a handful of other operating systems, including FreeBSD, Windows 2000 and NT, and Sun Solaris, although Linux hosting still accounts for about 60 percent of its business.
"Some customers have a mix of Linux and Sun servers, or Linux and Windows," Elmendorf notes. "By adding other capabilities, we can help people get the best of whatever world fits their needs."
This article is written by Anne Zieger for HostingTech, a web hosting magazine, and he can be contacted at azieger@hostingtech.com
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