14, 2002- Linux Industry leaders Caldera International, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALD),
Conectiva S.A., SuSE Linux AG, and Turbolinux, Inc., today announced the
membership levels for partner participation in UnitedLinux, an initiative to
streamline Linux development and certification around a global, uniform
distribution of Linux designed for business. Membership in UnitedLinux is
designated by two main categories, Linux Distributors and Developer Partners.
“HP is very excited about UnitedLinux and the benefits this group brings to
our customers around the world,” said Rick Becker, Software CTO vice
president, OS Alliances, Industry Standard Servers, HP. “We plan to certify
all servers, including our industry-leading ProLiant servers and Itanium 2
platforms, on this business focused offering.”
“Fujitsu is dedicated to providing customers with enterprise Linux solutions,”
said Masaharu Kitaoka, General Manager, Linux Division, Fujitsu Limited. “We
welcome the announcement of the framework by which solution vendors’ and their
customers’ requirements will be reflected in the developments of UnitedLinux.
Fujitsu will also continue to support the activities of UnitedLinux.”
Linux Distributor Membership
The Linux Distributor Partner level is intended solely for companies that
offer a Linux distribution, but need to offer a higher level of support to
their customers and to offer derivative works from the UnitedLinux source base
to meet specific customer demands. Partners will receive UnitedLinux marketing
and resale rights and support, as well as general technical participation.
They will adopt UnitedLinux 1.0 and be able to add the suffix “Powered by
UnitedLinux” to their distribution. In addition, Partners will have a seat on
the Board of Directors and the Technical Steering Committee, access to the
UnitedLinux build environment and rights to build derivative works, and will
share proceeds of profits.
Developer Membership Levels
Developer membership is categorized into three levels: Technical Advisory
Board Member (TABM), Developing member and Developer Program member.
TABM: The TABM level is defined solely for those software and hardware
providers who need to offer a higher level of support to their enterprise
level customers. In addition, this level of membership is for those companies
who are already investing significant development in Linux to ensure
compatibility or optimization of their hardware and software offerings on the
UnitedLinux source base. The TABM level provides access to the UnitedLinux
build environment and coordinates all changes being integrated into the source
code tree and regular maintenance releases. UnitedLinux will make best efforts
to ensure that these enhancements and optimizations are included as part of
the supported source code tree. TABMs will receive UnitedLinux marketing
rights and support and will have a seat on the Technical Advisory Committee.
Developing Member: Similar to the TABM level, the Developing member level is
for those companies who are already investing significant development in Linux
to ensure compatibility or optimization of their hardware and software
offerings on the UnitedLinux source base. These members want to ensure
compatibility and need information, but they do not need to make support
patches themselves or submit intrusive code changes that require special
training to support their hardware or software offerings. Developing members
are allowed participation in Advisory Board meetings, but are not voting
members, and have a channel to request inclusion of features (e.g. drivers).
They
receive technical support certifying and testing software, as well as
UnitedLinux marketing rights and support.
Developer Program: The Developer Program, designed to satisfy the needs of the
individual developer or ISV, will be an additional low cost membership. The
Program, further details of which will be released in the coming weeks, will
provide information, software and services to developers to build a catalog of
available applications and middleware for solution builders.
Membership Fees
All UnitedLinux members will pay annual sign-up fees to offset development
costs, contribute marketing funds to help brand UnitedLinux, provide technical
training and certification, and provide financial and business audits.
How To Get Involved
To get involved as a UnitedLinux member, contact Caldera, Conectiva, SuSE or
Turbolinux or go to www.unitedlinux.com.
About UnitedLinux
UnitedLinux is a partnership of industry leading Linux companies combining
their intellectual property, geographic mind share, sales, support and
marketing expertise to produce a uniform distribution of Linux designed for
business. UnitedLinux applies the collaborative development model of open
source to the business model to enable a one-stop shop for developers,
partners and customers to install, support and maintain quality business
solutions based on Linux anywhere in the world. UnitedLinux is actively
recruiting membership for both industry software developers and those who
provide Linux as an integral part of their business solutions. For more
information, visit www.unitedlinux.com.
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