NYSE Deploys 600 Linux servers in trading environment

Posted on January 18, 2008
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The New York Stock Exchange have deployed over 600 Linux servers within their Hybrid Market trading system. The Hybrid Market system lets NYSE traders buy and sell stocks electronically or on the exchange’s trading floor.

The key objectives on the move to Linux were:

Flexibility
Lower cost
technology independence

The servers are a based on Hewlett Packard machines, with AMD Opteron processors

N.Y.S.E. Places Buy on Linux, Hold on Unix

Using linux on the desktop

Posted on January 11, 2008
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I have been using Linux on the desktop for a number of years, despite this I would not have recommended a Linux desktop for the average user.

The best place for Linux was is in the server room, not on the desktop. This has changed drastically over the past few years with Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu Linux has taken the geeky edge from the Linux desktop and have created a number of tools to remove the hardware complexity and installation problems associated with Linux.

So much so that DELL have arranged to distribute Ubuntu Linux pre-installed on DELL machines.

This is excellent news for the consumer, and open’s a new level of choice.

Microsoft eases licensing to compete with LAMP

Posted on January 8, 2008
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Linux, Apache, Mysql,PHP have been readily available components when making web applications. It carries no licensing restrictions on the number of users and you can swap in any type of database you require, ( However Mysql being the most popular choice).

This make it extremely cost effective to build a web-server farm incorporating a load balanced fault tolerant environment. Scaling in the same manner has not always has been as affordable to achieve.

Windows Web server 2008 apparently will no longer carry some of the previous restrictions such as number of users, type of database used.

This only applies to the Windows Web server addition and then even under certain circumstances.

http://www.crn.com/software/205207950

Getting Linux Support

Posted on January 4, 2008
Filed Under Open Source | Leave a Comment

One of the many lines of FUD which often appear in the press and on blogs is that you can not get good Linux support. These sort of articles are designed to reduce confidence in Linux and hinder the deployment of Linux, especially in a commercial environment.

However with a bit of common sense, it does not take much to show that this argument does hold much weight.

Linux distributions do not make money by selling “product” or Linux licenses. So how do they make money ? Why is IBM investing billions of dollars into Linux?

They make money buy selling support and consultancy. There are a large amount of companies of varying sizes
which can provide the support required. My own company Trenchant Systems has given needed support for several companies which depend on Linux as part of their revenue generation machinery.

IBM, Redhat, Novell and now even oracle will provide you with Linux support on a subscription terms.

Linux support is in abundance, don’t be a victim to FUD. Think it through and get the facts for yourself.

Trenchant Systems in 2008

Posted on January 1, 2008
Filed Under IT & Business | 1 Comment

trench·ant [ trénchənt ]

adjective Definition:

searching: having keenness and forcefulness and penetration in thought, expression,
or intellect; "searching insights"; "trenchant criticism" hard-hitting: characterized by or full of force and vigour;
"a hard-hitting expose"; "a trenchant argument"

If the general economic forecast for 2008 is correct, then we are in for a challenging year. The media are reporting the reduction of house prices, rising inflation, the credit crunch reducing the amount of funding available. While these things may occur, I’m not going to add to frenzy of doom sayers. I’m a great believer of self fulfilling prophecy, and I’m going to highlight something different. One of the hardest things to do is to change the way you think. This is because we have all been programmed by our environment to respond in certain ways. I want to show you something different.

We should listen to these warnings of incoming economic bad weather and start preparation. The normal response is to cut investment, abandon projects, stop employment and hide under a rock until the sun comes out again. However this behavior actually causes the very thing we fear, economic downturn.

Instead, we should take these warnings of indication that what we have been doing over the past few years, will no longer work, what we need to do is find new ways of achieving our goals. As an example lets look at the music industry. Record labels saw the forecast of the incoming Digital MP3 music format and internet downloads. They rightly feared that this would impact on their sales and they expended huge amounts of money and energy to try and stamp it out. While they we trying to stamp it out, Apple computers were embracing it and quietly innovating and looking for ways to exploit the Ipod. They now practically control most of the internet downloads via Itunes. The music industry now have to approach Apple to be included in this distribution system.

It still astounds me that a computer manufacturer could create and control a music distribution system before the music industry. If the music industry realised that what had worked in the past, will no longer work in the future, and looked for new ways to achieve the same goals. Things may be drastically different today.

The point to take away after reading this is that you need to innovate. Be aware of your thinking and be willing to make changes and avoid the pre-programmed responses.

This is the core ethos of the company I founded, Trenchant Systems ltd. I set-up Trenchant Systems to help business managers focus on using Information Technology to meet business goals. Information Technology is often the most expensive operational cost, second only to payroll. We also have the problem where even after the expenditure, Your IT solutions may not be actually be performing in the way you need. Trenchant Systems can help you turn this around by making your systems more business focused, and at the same time look for ways to reduce your operational costs.

We also get you to focus on the goals of your business rather than IT products. I often say “People buy drills not because they like buying drills, they buy drills because they need to hang a picture, or install a light fitting. It’s all about the requirement, rather than the product.”

I approach this by doing the following:

Establishing your business goals and time constraints.
What your biggest problem areas are.
Evaluating the use of Open Source technology
Determining your criteria for success.

After we been through these activities , you should have an IT infrastructure which is brings more benefits to your business, and more cost effective.

By innovating and changing your thinking, it is possible to reach your business goals despite some of the economic pressures. So don’t change your goals, change how you achieve them.