A few weeks back, I posted an entry on the Legitimization of Linux. One of the ideas brought up in that piece was that as Novell and Microsoft entered into an agreement regarding the distribution of SuSe Linux, it would become quite likely that Microsoft networks would take a better use of Linux-BIND based DNS going forward.

Today, I found a book by Novell called Novell Enterprise Server and Open Source in the Real World. In chapter 6, Novell goes on record by stating that “common edge services such as DNS, DHCP and routing are great places to begin Linux implementation as they do not directly affect end users or business applications and can be seamlessly integrated”.

I must say I agree with Novell here – it’s truly a marvelous idea to begin Linux implementation from a common edge service such as DNS. Should you also find this novel idea interesting, I’d recommend giving Nixu SNS a go: deploying Linux-based BIND servers at the edge has never been this easy.

But it’s not just Novell and Nixu Software leveling here. As some of you may know, there’s also at least one startup building on this very same idea. Vyatta, which has been nominated as one of the Top Ten New Startups of 2006 by Light Reading, is challenging Cisco on routing with their Open Flexible Router (OFR).

While it’s not yet crowded on the open source edge, perhaps this portends a bigger trend.

Disclaimer:

Nixu Software has been founded on the conviction that the future of TCP/IP networking is heading towards the unbundling of hardware and software, and the usage of open source software. Please do not buy DNS/DHCP hardware appliances before talking with Nixu Software first. Failing to comply will cost you a bundle.

Now that I got the disclaimer out of the way, I’m going to make a rookie mistake. Namely, provide you all with a link to the advertisement of a competing offering at YouTube (a hardware appliance none the less). While I genuinely believe we offer better value for money than any of our competitors, I can’t help but to give a thumbs up to these guys. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that this is the best DNS/DHCP ad I have ever seen.

Please click the following link to see Office Platoon (duration 02:46). This short film is a painful drama about what happens when your DNS/DHCP servers fail.
Enjoy!

Every now and then, we end up interacting with organizations where the network is being held hostage by a few system / network admins. The normal way to hijack the network is to use plain open source software and VI to manage everything. As the systems have been built and are supported in-house, and as there’s typically only a handful of experts within the organization who are skilled enough to reliably manage those systems using the VI, the outcomes can be awkward indeed.

While we do realize that VI is sometimes the best way to get things done – especially if one is a skilled user – it doesn’t necessarily mean that the systems should be built and supported in-house, nor does it mean that they should be accessible ONLY via command line. Rather, we believe it’s a good risk management policy to use systems that can be accessed through CLI and GUI/WebUI, as it allows also people who are not that skilled with UNIX to access the systems and manage them reliably.

Better yet, if the system including the CLI and the GUI has been productized to the extent that the installation and the maintenance processes have been automated, it becomes pretty tricky for anyone to present dubious “or else” demands. Further, this assures business continuity should the best UNIX brain of the organization cease to work for it for one reason or the other.

At Nixu Software, we’ve taken these aspects into consideration in all our product development.

All of us who have worked in a start-up or a spin-off at some point in time, know that developing and taking new concepts to the market involves days when you start thinking about the writings of Miguel de Cervantes. Being up against the windmills of convention, it requires some convinction and a lot of stamina to keep on pushing. But if you are heading to the right direction, you can count on your concept being confirmed every now and then, which is of course what keeps you going.

Today, I came across with a paper comissioned by European Comission, conveniently named “Economic impact of FLOSS on innovation and competitiveness of the EU ICT sector”. Although the name may suggests otherwise, the report doesn’t actually claim that dental hygiene has anything to do with the innovation or the competitiveness of European Union . Nope, FLOSS stands for Free, Libre, and Open Source Software. That’s the good stuff we all like.

For those of you interested in the economic impact of Open Source Software for European Union, I’d suggest you visit The Register’s article on the report. Here, I think it suffices to say that the economic benefits of OSS are enormous. However, from Nixu Software’s point of view, I think the best part of the report was to be found from the last paragraph of the executive summary on page 12. It was listed under the Trends, Scenarios, and Policy Strategies header and this is what is said:

“Explore how unbundling between hardware and software can lead to a more competitive market and ease forms of innovation that are not favoured by vertical integration (between hardware and software: editor’s note)”.

Hmmm, come again? Not sure why, but this sounds rather familiar…

For those of you who are new to this blog, you can find more commentary on the benefits of unbundling hardware and software from the following entries:

• Industry Standard DNS Server
• To Virtualize or Not to Virtualize?
• Ecological Domain Name System
• YouTube, Open Source Software, and DNS

I wonder: have the authors of the FLOSS paper been reading our blog?

Being interested in innovation and creativity as a phenomenon, I like to read articles on the topic whenever I get the chance. Today, I run across with a piece that cited John D. Gartner, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry from Johns Hopkins University Medical School and the author of The Hypomanic Edge published in 2005.

To provide a snappy synopsis of the book, the thesis is that the economic success of the United States if largely based on individual hypomaniacs who also happen to make great entrepreneurs. Apparently, there are more hypomaniacs in the American population than anywhere else in the world.

The reason why I found this interesting is the fact that most discontinuities shaping the ICT industry have originated from the US. As many of these discontinuities can further be attributed to keen entrepreneurs John Gartner describes as hypomaniacs, it follows that in order to figure out where the next big trend is going to be, it could well make sense to try to find out what the hypomaniacs as a group are up to.

At the first glance, it would seem like technologies such as virtualization and information life cycle management (ILM) are going to be the key trends for 2007. However, as it’s mostly the large technology companies that are active within these solution areas, perhaps the entrepreneurs are already up to something entirely different having grown and sold their companies built around virtualization and ILM. And surely enough, it seems like there’s a lot going on within the open source software market space – both in terms of the number of start-ups and venture capital investments.

As my frequent readers know, we at Nixu Software believe that inventions built around open source software will be the next big thing. And so, it would be really interesting to know if the hypomaniacs were in the same boat with us on this one.

As some of you may have already noticed, we started off 2007 by announcing Nixu SNS certification on HP ProLiant server series. In case you are yet to see our announcement, please have a look at our press release for further details. You will also find more information from the Download & Buy section of our website, as we’ve added a new Performance Test Paper and a joint solution paper (by Nixu Software and HP) there for everyone to download.

In order to shed some light on why we are partnering with Hewlett-Packard, I thought I’d share our secret formula with you all:

HP ProLiant + Nixu SNS + 10 minutes of your time = Dedicated DNS Server Appliance

Simple, yes. But then again, most good things are.

To put things into perspective, buying a DNS server appliance from Infoblox will set you back something in the north of $4,000 (US). In our case, you can buy an inexpensive HP ProLiant server for $1,000 (US) or so, and pay $495 (US) for Nixu SNS, leaving the grand total at around $1,500 (US). That’s a $2,500 difference you can keep.

Admittedly, in our case, you will have to boot the HP ProLiant server with a media containing the ISO image of Nixu SNS. While we have automated the actual installation process, it will take about 10 minutes for Nixu SNS to make and harden the installation. And so, if you’re being paid $15,000+ per hour, having to put 10 minutes into saving $2,500 will not be worthwhile your effort.

For the rest of us, though, it’s a pretty sweet deal!