Mandrake marches into new year with enterprise server and desktop range

Posted on 5 Jan 2005 at 16:21

Mandrakesoft has marched into the new year with a full set of corporate products, including a desktop.

The company is promising lengthy development cycles for the most robust and stable platforms and a five-year maintenance program, meaning customers can be assured the products will not be superseded and will continue to receive support.

Mandrake's development process for its MandrakeLinux line goes through three stages: an in-house core version known as cooker, an initial product released under the Community tag, and an Offical version which is the result of feedback from thousands of developers using the Community version. Mandrake's Simon Barthelme said: 'The process we've chosen [for the Corporate range] is meant to ensure that these products are even more stable... Corporate products are based originally on 'Official' versions of the distribution, and then undergo further testing.'

The Corporate server updates the 2003 release and is based on the latest 2.6 kernel of the Linux operating system. The system incorporates a range of wizards to simplify configuring it to function as a file server, print server, Web server, directory server, FTP server, and for many other workloads.

Barthelme said that Mandrake is already rolling out deployments of the Corporate Server in some departments of the French government, with which it recently won major contracts.

The desktop product features a wide range of open-source applications as well as commercial programs such as Citrix and NX clients and CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office Server Edition.

Mandrake has added its unique touch in the form of home-grown utilities. Drakauth, for example, lets administrators choose between several authentication and directory systems - including LDAP and Active Directory.

There is a customised Mandrakelinux Control Center on each system providing management utilities, and Drakpark is a centralised control center allowing remote control of software and patch updates. Barthelme adds: 'We're currently testing Mandrakeonline Pro, a new service that will let administrators do fine-grained software management from a web interface.'

This is Mandrake's first venture with a specialised corporate desktop, but its rivals haven't had that much of a head start. The earliest off the block was Sun with its SUSE-based Java Desktop System, now a couple of years old. Red Hat launched its enterprise desktop only in the first half of last year, and Novell announced its shot barely a couple of months ago.

Corporate Server and Corporate Desktop are available now for pre-order for 329 Euros and 99 Euros respectively. There are also discounts for volume orders. More information is available at: www.mandrakesoft.com.

Author: Matt Whipp