Companies partner to supply customizable Linux appliances

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Jul. 27, 2005

A company specializing in custom Linux distributions for device vendors and others has partnered with a vendor of off-the-shelf and custom appliance hardware. Progeny says NCS Technology can provide its customers with high-quality hardware, while Progeny can create and maintain custom Linux distributions for NCS's customers.

Progeny

Progeny was founded by Debian founder Ian Murdoch in the late 90s, and along with Corel and Stormix, was among the first companies to market a commercially supported version of Debian. Today, enough commercial Debian derivatives exist to support a club. Progeny Linux failed to gain momentum, however, in part due to binary incompatibility with Debian, according to a post in Ian Murdock's weblog.

In 2003, Progeny shifted its business plan toward creating custom Linux distributions, including distributions used in embedded systems. Later that year, when Red Hat announced it would end-of-life its free distribution, Progeny leveraged its custom OS creation tools to step in with transition services.

NCS Technologies

NCS manufactures desktops, servers, and notebooks, as well as a line of COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) server appliances. NCS appliance platforms include some customizability, such as optional front-panel LCDs, RAID controllers, and removable drive bays.

NCS markets its appliance platforms primarily to ISVs (independent software vendors) wishing to create server appliances based on their proprietary software. Past customers include BlueCat Networks, St. Bernard Software, Breach Security, Lucid Security, and PreventSys, NCS says.

NCS's line of COTS appliance platforms currently includes :

NCSAPP 100-P -- a 1U P4 set-top chassis with a room for one hard drive
NCSAPP 200-P -- a 2U P4-powered set-top chassis with room for two hard drives
NCSAPP 120-P -- a 1U P4 rackmount system with RAID, two EIDE drives, and a full-height 32-bi PCI slot
NCSAPP 120-X -- a 1U Xeon rackmount system with two EIDE or SCSI drives, optional RAID, gigabit Ethernet, and a 64-bit PCI slot
NCSAPP 140-X -- a 1U dual-Xeon rackmount system supporting 16GB of RAM, four removable or fixed EIDE or SCSI drives, optional RAID, two gigabit Ethernets, and a 64-bit PCI slot
NCSAPP 240-X -- a 2U dual-Xeon rackmount system with six fixed or removable EIDE or SCSI drives, two gigabit Ethernets, and six low-profile or two full-height 64-bit PCI slots

Progeny says Linux device vendors and ISVs can save money by outsourcing both hardware design and operating system creation and maintenance. Murdock said, "Progeny [offers] custom Debian- and RPM-based Linux platforms. The [partnership] will benefit Progeny customers by providing a source for high-quality custom hardware."

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