Author: JT Smith
Category:
- Open Source
Author: JT Smith
Category:
Author: JT Smith
Acrylis has created a single user edition of its flagship WhatifLinux product. WhatifLinux Personal Edition provides users with immediate access to software updates, security alerts, patches and the latest open source software information right from their Web browser. As with the workgroup version of WhatifLinux, the WhatifLinux Personal Edition provides a decision support tool that allows the user to create “What If” scenarios to determine the impact of installing or uninstalling software on their system, including dependencies upon other software components. The new service is available immediately for $49 per year by visiting www.whatiflinux.com 
“There are hundreds of thousands of early adopters who are relying on Linux as their desktop or server operating system of choice,” explained Reg Broughton CEO of Acrylis. “But for these early adopters, searching for the tools, tips, updates, patches and dependencies and analysis information is a time consuming process. And once this user has the information, reviewuating the impact of the software change is a key decision. With our WhatifLinux Personal Edition service, our customers are given this key information pro-actively over the Internet, and the decision support tool makes software update tasks fast and less risky.”
About WhatifLinux Personal Edition
Designed for single use open source Linux customers, WhatifLinux Personal Edition goes far beyond ‘static’ log monitors, network process monitors and software update services by providing immediate software information and updates, along with a software decision tool for “What If” analysis. These “What If” scenarios automatically reviewuate the impact of software changes, dependencies, alerts, patches and releases of open source software applications.
The key components behind the WhatifLinux Personal Edition are:
Knowledge Base – The Knowledge Base contains several kinds of information such as software dependency and conflicts, software alerts and problems, and customer usage information. The software components being monitored can include system software, utility software and application software. Customer information is collected from the agent via the customer’s system. This enables WhatifLinux to disseminate alert information directly to those customers who are actively using the affected software.
Decision Support Tool – A key feature of WhatifLinux is the “What If” analysis tool. This tool provides the user with a recursive analysis of the impact of any software changes, installs and uninstalls. The user can link directly to the software provider for a full description of the alert, patch or update. Software patches and updates can be immediately applied, saving time and money.
Intelligent Agents – The Intelligent Agent is a small Java-based application that resides on the open source system being monitored. This agent takes an inventory of all the software packages loaded on the managed system. The agent regularly checks in with the WhatifLinux Knowledge Base for news and updates specific to that open source system, no matter what Linux distribution is present.
Pricing and Availability
Priced at only $49 per year, the WhatifLinux Personal Edition is available immediately by visiting www.whatiflinux.com 
Additional product offerings from Acrylis
WhatifLinux-The WhatifLinux Workgroup Edition is designed for system administrators and support staff who manage small networks of Linux-based systems. In addition to all the feature functionality found in the WhatifLinux Personal Edition, WhatifLinux WE also includes a system administrator graphical user interface called the “Management Console” which is designed to help them better manage the complexities typically associated with a multi-system environment. The console, which provides real-time data on the status of information collected from the agents, allows the administrator to see all monitored systems in their domain, and provides views into software packages installed on both specific and aggregate systems. The console provides the administrator with a view of agent alarms (warnings), which allows them to launch corrective actions such as installing or uninstalling software packages, patches or updates, or invoking decision support analysis with the ‘What If’ feature. The Console also provides an alternate view of all software packages of one specific type across all systems being monitored in the workgroup. The console eases the complexities of software configuration management, software updates and installs by giving the administrator knowledge of dependencies and impacts of upgrading software. WhatifLinux is available immediately starting at $495 per year by visiting www.whatiflinux.com 
About Acrylis Inc.
Founded in 1998 and headquartered in North Chelmsford Massachusetts, Acrylis Inc., is an emerging leader in the open-source, software management industry. Acrylis provides open source users and system administrators with Internet-delivered tools and services for faster, more reliable software management. The company has developed the WhatifLinux family of products, an Internet based subscription service that proactively monitors and manages the software assets running on single and networks of dynamic Linux servers. “What If” decision support and analysis tool provides the user or administrator with immediate feedback on the impact of software changes. Acrylis takes a unique approach to delivering critical Linux software information. By focusing their efforts on deploying autonomous agents that work in conjunction with their Knowledge Base, Acrylis is creating a community of open-source software know-how, which is designed for quicker, more reliable open-source software management. For more information, visit www.whatiflinux.com 
Contact: Chris McCoin or Rick Smith
McCoin & Smith Communications, LLC
Chris@mccoinsmith.com /Compose?To=Chris@mccoinsmith.com>
Rick@mccoinsmith.com /Compose?To=Rick@mccoinsmith.com>
508-881-0095 (Chris)
978-433-3304 (Rick)
Author: JT Smith
 Silicon Valley-based TurboLinux Inc. (www.turbolinux.com)
 is taking the wraps off a revolutionary clustering solution that enables organizations
 to focus the combined processing capabilities of their networked workstations and
 PCs for “Big Iron” supercomputing power at a very affordable price.
 EnFuzion is a high-performance clustering solution. It supports
 heterogeneous platforms (Linux, UNIX, Windows NT), works with existing
 applications, requires little or no coding and is easy to use. “You
 don’t need a Ph.D. in parallel programming, or even a programming
 degree, to use EnFuzion,” said Klaus Fabian, senior product manager for
 EnFuzion.
 What is Clustering?
 Clustering is the manipulation of networked PCs in such a way that they
 behave like a single Herculean computer. Clusters are a very popular
 strategy for implementing parallel processing applications and enable
 organizations to leverage the investment already made in PCs and
 workstations. Clusters are also scalable. Need more computing power?
 Just add more PCs to the network.
 Often referred to as a “single system illusion” because the network
 appears as a single system from the outside, a cluster prevents a single
 point of failure. If one or more machines in the cluster fails, the
 system continues to perform.
 Before EnFuzion, organizations with high-performance computing needs
 turned to expensive supercomputers that required constant maintenance
 and expensive parallel programming. Why not use what you’ve already got?
 Your CFO will love you.
 EnFuzion employs a technique called Parameterized Simulation. Parametric
 executions are jobs where the same task is run repeatedly but under
 several different scenarios. It is typically used for modeling
 complicated problems, from portfolio risk management at an investment
 bank to determining gene sequences at a biotechnology company.
 EnFuzion is completely platform independent, which means it can be used
 with Windows NT and all UNIX-based systems including: Solaris, HP-UX,
 IBM AIX, SGI Irix and Tru64. It is also fault-tolerant, so if one or
 more machines in the cluster fails or is turned off, the job is
 rescheduled on the remaining PCs or workstations.
 And it’s secure. EnFuzion is encryption-enabled to bolster security for
 root-to-node communications, authorization of trusted hosts and
 executables, and user-defined decryption primitives. In addition,
 EnFuzion’s application program interface (API) allows third-party
 companies to seamlessly and transparently integrate EnFuzion into their
 products.
 Who Should Use EnFuzion?
 “Any organization with a daunting computing task that takes extremely
 long to complete on a single PC can get tremendous advantage from
 EnFuzion,” Fabian said. “EnFuzion can speed application performance by a
 factor of 100 or more.”
 Companies specializing in image rendering (animation, simulations,
 structure modeling, etc.) rely on EnFuzion for low-cost,
 high-performance supercomputing power. EnFuzion has been used in the
 areas of aerospace, bioinformatics, gene modeling, finance, engineering,
 heath care, animation, mathematics/statistics, physics, telecommunications
 — and more.
 In the Internet realm, EnFuzion opens new opportunities for applications
 that require massive computing muscle. It is ideally suited for data
 mining, Web site content generation, report generation and software
 development.
 In the financial industry, JP Morgan and AMP Asset Management use
 EnFuzion for quantitative processes involving statistical data such as
 scenario analysis, used in risk assessment for portfolio and asset
 management. EnFuzion enables financial services companies to minimize
 their customers’ risk while maximizing returns.
 What EnFuzion Users Are Saying
 “Suddenly there was an enormous growth spurt in the amount of work we
 were able to perform,” said Dr. Alen Varsek of AMP, Australia’s largest
 insurance firm and one of that country’s leading banks. “(EnFuzion) made
 it possible to multiply the amount of work done by a factor of almost 100.”
 In related news, researchers at New York’s Rockefeller University said
 they’ve stumbled across an amazing fact: a 16-node TurboLinux EnFuzion
 cluster of Intel servers performed 20 percent faster than an SGI Origin
 2000 supercomputer.
 The five-person research group, which conducts large-scale comparative
 protein structure modeling for the Human Genome project, turned to
 EnFuzion as a cost-effective solution to add computing power to support
 its growing body of work.
 “We paid $650,000 for a 20-processor Origin 2000 from SGI about two
 years ago. We also paid about $30,000 for a 16-node Pentium II cluster,”
 said Professor Andrej Sali, head of the research group. “Given our
 benchmarks, the EnFuzion cluster is about 20 percent faster than the
 Origin 2000, at 20 times smaller cost.”
 While EnFuzion shares the clustering space with several companies, none
 of them are better suited for the enterprise than EnFuzion.
 Unlike the popular clustering solution Beowulf, which requires a
 dedicated cluster of Linux servers, EnFuzion allows you to utilize
 existing workstations and applications. Your previous investments are
 protected.
 EnFuzion can be set to run at night, during lunch or anytime employees
 are not using their workstations. For example, EnFuzion can be set to
 run when a PC’s screen saver kicks in, thus assuring that its user is
 not inconvenienced.
 “Think of the efficiency — all the machines that are not used during
 lunch, meetings or overnight can be used for high-performance computing
 at no cost, a practice referred to as ‘cycle harvesting,'” Fabian said.
 How Does EnFuzion Work?
 When used with your application, EnFuzion automatically generates a
 graphical user interface (GUI) for your root machine. No programming is
 required! The root machine then distributes the jobs across the network
 and collects the results. Awesome!
 Users have the choice of using a text editor or the GUI to generate the
 script that allows EnFuzion to distribute the job. Just punch in the
 parameters you want to run and let EnFuzion do the rest. Once the
 computation is distributed to your networked PCs, you can use the root
 computer to monitor its progress via the GUI.
 The root machine copies all of the input files to the client machines,
 the clients then substitute the parameter and produce output files that
 are ultimately sent back to the root machine
Author: JT Smith
The Open Source Development Model
 In the Open Source Development Model freedom in the availability of the source code and the requirement to share
 modifications promotes a longer-term viability of the product. Under the control of the CYRANO Open Source Software
 Development Group, OpenSTA development will be a tightly controlled development model. Final say on modifications and
 development will be owned by CYRANO.
Several factors were behind the reasoning of embracing this model:
      Peer review increases reliability, security and quality
      Open Source model increases speed of product development
      Rapid response to customer needs in both development and support
      Broader market in supporting heterogeneous environments
      Support seller model is more in line with current and future customer needs than a per-license/per-seat proprietary
      software scheme
 “The end result being that everyone equally will have access to a freely distributable testing architecture for web-based
 applications, and one which evolves faster than it’s proprietary and commercial counterparts.” said Robert Ernens, Chairman
 and CEO of Cyrano. “At Cyrano, we believe that the Open Source model will drive the software industry within a couple of
 years, and we are proud to offer our brand new Web load testing technology as a free software. By using it, e-commerce
 sites will maximize the expected growth in customer load, and then be reliable and stable enough to produce expected
 revenue.”
OpenSTA Licensing
 OpenSTATM will be licensed under the GNU GPL (GNU General Public License). This means that everyone has the rights to
 use, modify, and redistribute the program’s code or any program derived from it but only if the distribution terms are
 unchanged.
Support Seller Model
 Around the OpenSTA project, CYRANO will be offering support, consulting and training services, bespoke feature
 enhancements, and printed documentation and CD sets. This type of business is known as the Support Seller Model. In this
 model, the software remains free and open, while services associated with the source are acquired for a fee.
 “Many companies have made objections about implementing Open Source due to the lack of any organized support model.
 CYRANO will be offering full support, consulting and training services specifically for OpenSTA.” said Noelle Beaudin
 Marketing Product Manager for OpenSTA. “So, you not only get use of a completely open and aggressively evolving tool,
 you also get access to a dedicated team to help you support it in your environment. The complete offering will be disclosed
 soon.”
Release Dates and Source Repository
 The OpenSTA source code and installable have been prepared to operate in a Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000
 environment. Plans for porting to all major platforms are in the works. Open Source developers that are interested in
 participating in the OpenSTA project will find the source hosted at link before the end of September. Sourceforge.net is
 the premier provider of hosting services for on-line Open Source projects.
About CYRANO
CYRANO is a public company
listed on the EuroNM of the
Paris Bourse (Reuters: CYRA.LN, Sicovam 3922). Formed in 1989,
Cyrano is headquartered in Paris, France, with regional headquarters
in the UK and USA.
CYRANO, is one of the world leaders in Web performance, security
and application management. Cyrano competes with Mercury Interactive
(Nasdaq: MERQ), Compuware (Nasdaq: CPWR), Segue (Nasdaq: SEGU) and
Rational Software (Nasdaq: RATL) for web performance testing. For
further information, visit  link 
OpenSTA is a trademark of Cyrano
Other trademarks, service marks and company names are the
property of their respective owners.
For more information about this press release, please contact
Noelle Beaudin,
Marketing Product Manager for OpenSTATM