Already the subject of intense scrutiny, this new kernel will be the first major revamp of the Linux kernel in two years. We at Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) have worked with Linux developers and together completed more than 4,000 tests on publicly available development versions of this kernel.

In recent months, we have run the development kernel, known as 2.5, in our production environment with servers achieving more than 30 days of continuous uptime. The 2.5 kernel will transition into 2.6, and OSDL is committed to its rapid adoption in the market. (OSDL is a global consortium backed by Computer Associates, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, and other major vendors.)

A fast and deep entry into the market would be a distinct change from what happened with Linux 2.4, when adoption took longer than the industry anticipated. This time around, however, the development community, including OSDL, has tested the kernel so extensively that we believe adoption will come much, much faster.

There are eight reasons why CIOs will decide to upgrade to a Linux distribution based on 2.6: seven related to performance and the eighth, and critical, factor being cost. At OSDL, we divided the key 2.6 kernel feature improvements into seven categories: performance, scalability, availability, clustering, I/O, management, and serviceability. We found that Linux systems based on the 2.6 kernel will scale better on bigger machines. This provides the opportunity to replace more proprietary Unix servers and to consolidate workloads on bigger Linux systems. But it's not just the technical features; the clincher is the cost savings that these features will make possible for large organizations.

Businesses can save big money by implementing the new Linux kernel on Intel architecture-based servers. Amazon's move from Solaris to Linux on HP NetServer systems helped Amazon slash its technology capital budget more than 25% in the first year alone. There's more: businesses can achieve lower training costs, and additional savings can be found as Unix technical staff can easily port their skills, procedures, and even many applications to Linux.

To borrow an insight from Clayton Christensen's book, The Innovator's Dilemma (HarperBusiness, 2000), Linux is a disruptive technology. The new kernel is going to allow Linux to pass Christensen's "good enough" test. This means that many organizations are going to begin moving their core data center operations over to Linux. It gets the job done for a lot less money. As proprietary architectures yield their performance advantage to Linux, Linux becomes "good enough" for most workloads.

Get all the details on the 2.6 kernel in the premier issue of LinuxWorld Magazine or click here to subscribe!

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