Hewlett Packard announces support for Linux

October 11, 1998

HP Firehunter is the industry's first family of measurement and monitoring solutions designed specifically to help ISPs from small, local providers to global organizations proactively manage Internet services, such as mail, news and Web functions. The Red Hat Linux operating system is an advanced, multiuser, multitasking operating system that runs on a variety of today's computing platforms.

"We're seeing widespread interest in the Linux OS from our service provider customers," said Tom White, HP vice president and general manager of the Communication Test Solutions Group. "HP is at the forefront of offering new technologies that benefit the day to day operations of service providers, and, by supporting the Linux OS, our customers get greater flexibility in choosing an operating system that best fits their needs."

Around the clock Support

Red Hat Linux (Version 5.2) is supported by the complete HP Firehunter solution, including its distributed management server, allowing customers to take advantage of the powerful Linux platform and HP's 24/7 support. In addition to the Red Hat Linux operating system, HP also supports Windows NT(R) from Microsoft(R) Corp. and Sun Solaris from Sun Microsystems Inc.

Linux is the result of a worldwide development effort over the Internet. An open source system, the Linux OS and its source code can be downloaded from the Internet free of charge, making Linux increasingly popular among many ISPs as a full featured OS that can be used interchangeably as a server and a powerful desktop workstation.

"ISPs worldwide are flocking to Linux as an alternative server OS not only because it's free, but also for its robust, reliable, powerful and compact design," said Robert Young, chief executive officer for Red Hat. "The support of the HP Firehunter management system helps make the Linux OS even more attractive for meeting the needs of service providers."

HP Firehunter can help service providers grow their businesses by enabling them to offer profitable, premium services, such as e commerce, Voice over IP (VoIP) or Web hosting, that help improve customer satisfaction and decrease churn. It is a comprehensive, intelligent software solution that meets the needs of any size ISP. The product family includes Firehunter/L, for small ISPs running up to 20 Internet servers; Firehunter 1.5, for midsized providers with up to 60 servers; and Firehunter/PRO, for large ISPs and enterprise IT organizations running more than 60 mission critical servers.

Information about HP Firehunter products can be obtained on the World Wide Web at http://www.firehunter.com/

Availability

HP's Firehunter family of Internet service management solutions with support for Red Hat's Linux operating system is expected to be available in January.