Linux Creeps into the Enterprise

It is not a question of "if" you'll deploy Linux in your company, but rather when -- and how deep. There's a good chance that you've deployed it already and don't know it. Even if you're not ideologically opposed to Microsoft, there are just too many benefits to ignore Linux for very long. The first place you'll see it -- or rather, deploy it -- is likely with the various appliances you install to handle network security and various storage-related functions. Where many companies used to use proprietary real-time operating systems like VxWorks as the "core" for their, say, URL scanning or XML encryption appliance, nowadays, it's a good bet that a Linux build is at the core.

While there are a plethora of security services (such as Check Point's firewall) that run Windows 2000 as a base, my unscientific survey of appliances that have come through our doors in the past year seem to be more and more based on Linux. (Microsoft has made a concerted effort to make inroads in the realm of embedded systems, but that is a whole other story.)

Read Full Story