Operating Systems

As the first Red Hat Premier Partner in the UK you would expect us to recommend technology from the Red Hat ecosystem. However, we do so in this instance solely on the basis that Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL 6) is the global leader in its category and offers an even larger feature set, when compared with previous RHEL releases.

In summary RHEL 6 offers:

• No delineation between physical and virtual systems.
• One standard product - with modules (eg GFS, Cluster Suite, Management etc).
• The facility to run on any hypervisor (eg VMWARE, HYPER-V, RHEV).
• The facility to stack the product in a virtual environment.
• A low cost, mission - critical alternative to expensive proprietary software.
• Proven performance across multiple workloads.
• Offers the highest level of out-of-the-box security in the industry.
• Provides new levels of flexibility to deploy one standard system on servers of any size.
• Total transparency as it is built on open standards.
• Includes built-in Virtualization

Complementary services for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

We now offer a portfolio of services to complement the software support provided with Red Hat Standard and Premium subscriptions ie industry leading software support, updates and development. LinuxIT Premier Services follow ITIL and can be tailored to subscriber requirements. Our new LinuxIT Premier Service comprises of elements drawn from the six IT system management themes, summarised below.

LinuxIT Premier Service Monitoring. Offers predictive, proactive system monitoring 24/7 that helps to reduce IT team workload enabling staff to focus on core activities.

LinuxIT Premier Service Compliance Management. Your subscriptions information is tracked together with all your Red Hat Enterprise Linux installations to ensure compliancy, economy and reduced.

On one certified platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 offers you a choice of:

• Applications - Thousands of certified ISV applications
• Deployment options - Including standalone or virtual servers, cloud computing, or software appliances
• Hardware – A wide range of platforms from the world's leading hardware vendors

This gives IT department’s unprecedented levels of operational flexibility. And it gives ISVs unprecedented market reach when delivering applications. Certify once, deploy anywhere. All while providing world-class performance, security, and stability. And unbeatable value.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) is a popular proven technology, particularly in mainland Europe, and as a Novell Gold Partner we would recommend that you consider it alongside the global market leader Red Hat.

For instance SLES can provide you with the performance, reliability, scalability and usability of UNIX for up to 75% less. Migrating from UNIX to SLES, a popular platform for mission-critical computing, delivers the best of UNIX, for a quarter of the cost.

In essence you get the power, reliability and scalability of UNIX at a Linux price.

Mission-Critical Reliability at a Mission-Impossible Price

In today's 24/7 world, maximising uptime and performance can mean the difference between profit and loss. Architected for mission-critical use and minimal downtime, SLES provides a modern, efficient and secure foundation for data centre computing. It includes a fully integrated, multi-node, high-availability solution at no extra cost. And it offers support for several file systems out of the box, including ReiserFS v3, ext3, XFS and OCFS2.

World-Record Scalability and Performance

The development of robust Open-Source solutions for high availability, the continual hardening of the Linux kernel, the maturation of file systems and Novell's testing, integration and support of all these components make SLES is the most reliable solution available.

Performance

With advanced memory management and processor support, native POSIX Thread Library (NPTL) and advanced I/O capabilities, the Novell solution also offers the greatest performance possible. In fact, SLES has set world records in scalability and performance, including running the SGI Altix 4700 system that set a record for sustained memory bandwidth, with a single copy of the operating system powering 1,024 Itanium processors. It has also set Oracle performance records, including running the Oracle Database that set the two-tier SAP Sales and Distribution record for fastest Linux performance.

World-Class Services

Backed by the world-class service of LinuxIT, the Novell solution is an ideal choice to facilitate Solaris migration, SCO migration, and other UNIX migration to Linux, providing an affordable, enterprise-class alternative.

SLES can provide UNIX-like performance and reliability at a Linux-like price. And an innovative subscription model that delivers superior investment protection. A 60 day trial is available.

SLES can be the most interoperable platform for mission-critical computing, suitable for physical and virtual environments, from the desktop to the data centre.

And with Service Pack 1, you can get even greater performance, reliability, security, scalability and interoperability, and even more hardware and driver support. You also benefit from maintenance and support enhancements which give you greater flexibility, without sacrificing control.

With SLES you can run anything, run it anywhere, run it reliably and securely, run it for less and run it for a long time

Run anything

Over 5,000 applications today are certified and supported on SUSE Linux Enterprise. And the number grows daily, because of our program and dedicated ISV team. Chances are, the applications you want to use are supported on SUSE Linux Enterprise.

Run it anywhere

SLES runs on five processor architectures, and supports a wide range of form factors—physical, virtual and cloud. Optimise your data resources by easily matching your workloads to new or existing hardware that is best suited for that workload. And since it's designed to work well with Xen, ESX and Hyper-V, you can run it in a wide variety of virtual configurations.

Run it reliably and securely

SLES is designed for mission-critical workloads, offering Tier 1 reliability, scalability, security and manageability. SUSE Linux Enterprise powers more business-critical SAP applications than any other Linux distribution. And nearly eighty percent of the mainframes running Linux, run SUSE Linux Enterprise.

Run it for less

Combining SLES with industry-standard hardware lets you run your mission-critical workloads at a fraction of the cost of proprietary UNIX and RISC-based servers. Since it is designed for interoperability and heterogeneous, mixed IT environments, you can run it with existing hardware.

Run it for a long time

Protect your investment with SLES. The flexible subscription model lets you use any generally available version of our operating system, going forwards or backwards as your needs change. And our open-source license minimizes vendor lock-in, ensuring you have ample support options, both now and in the future.

SUSE® Linux Enterprise 11 is the most interoperable platform for mission-critical computing, suitable for physical and virtual environments, from the desktop to the data center. With Service Pack 1, you get even greater performance, reliability, security, scalability and interoperability, and even more hardware and driver support. You also benefit from maintenance and support enhancements which give you greater flexibility, without sacrificing control.

LinuxIT were the first Silver Partner with Ubuntu -  Canonical and has significant experience installing and supporting Ubuntu-based solutions. Super-fast and great-looking, Ubuntu is a secure, intuitive operating system that powers desktops, servers, netbooks and laptops. Ubuntu is free.

Ubuntu is far more than an operating system. With thousands of applications to choose from, it's completely free and easy to use.

It’s made for sharing. Use it, modify it, improve it, share it. Anywhere, any time and with any number of people all over the world. No licence required.

LinuxIT is a blended systems integrator and as such we are happy to recommend the very best Linux and non-Linux options for heterogeneous IT environments.

That’s why the Microsoft operating system features in our technology portfolio. Microsoft claim that their latest iteration of Windows, Windows 7, is simpler to use, more responsive, and features many improvements.

MS cite the top 10 as:

• a better desktop. Windows 7 gets you around your PC faster than ever.
• smarter search. Type in the Start menu search box, and you see results instantly, grouped by category—documents, pictures, music, e‑mail, and programs.
• easy sharing with HomeGroup. Sharing files and printers on your home network is simple.
• built for speed. Windows 7 has key performance improvements to take up less memory and run background services only when you need them.
• better wireless networking. Connecting to wireless networks on your laptop—formerly a bit of a hassle—now takes just a couple of clicks.
• Windows Touch. Use your fingers to browse the web, flip through photos, and open files and folders on a touchscreen PC—for the first time.
• plays well with devices. Device Stage, a new feature in Windows 7, works like a home page for things like portable music players, smartphones, and printers.
• Watch, listen, and stream.‌ Internet TV, part of Windows Media Center, gathers programming from sites all over the Internet—shows, sports highlights, video podcasts, and more.
• Internet Explorer 9 and Windows Live.‌ Windows 7 unleashes the full power of IE9, from its stunning hardware-accelerated graphics to the ability to launch favourite websites right from your taskbar.
• Nag-free notifications. Action Center, new in Windows 7, puts you in control of maintenance and security messages.

For those facing challenging business and technical requirements such as the need to lower costs, simplify system administration, and maintain high service levels, the Oracle Solaris operating system can be another choice. Solaris' innovative, built-in features can deliver reliability, performance/scalability and security.

Reliability

• Availability - Predictive Self Healing provides both hardware and software resiliency with automatic predictive component retirement, software restart, and live upgrade of the OS and applications, as well as simplified service administration that reduces opportunities for errors.
• Data Integrity - Oracle Solaris ZFS, an advanced file system, provides unmatched data integrity, automated error correction, and integrated data services that include unlimited snapshots and file compression.
• DTrace - DTrace Analytics provide safe, live observability from the lowest level of the kernel to high-level application constructs, allowing you to optimise performance and quickly solve problems in production environments.

Performance/Scalability

• Optimisation - Solaris is optimized for the latest SPARC, Intel, and AMD processor technologies, high performance flexible networking, encryption acceleration, and memory allocation.
• Efficient Consolidation - Oracle Solaris Containers provide built-in, high-performance and flexible virtualization on any system, allowing for highly efficient consolidation, relocation and replication of application environments. P2V capabilities make it fast and easy to re-host existing Oracle Solaris 8 and 9 applications onto Oracle's latest modern Sun SPARC servers.

Security

Oracle Solaris security, including Solaris Trusted Extensions, provides the separability and control required by the public sector and financial institutions without sacrificing hardware and application compatibility.

We provide support and monitoring for IBM AIX and migrations.

The latest generation of IBM's well-proven, scalable, open standards-based UNIX® operating system AIX provides features for virtualization, security, availability and manageability that are designed to make AIX® even more flexible, secure and available than previous versions.

It is built on IBM POWER® technology and virtualization to help deliver superior performance, increase system utilisation and efficiency, provide for easy administration and reduce total costs. Now available in three Editions for even more capability and flexibility.

IBM AIX provides fully integrated support for 32- and 64-bit applications and provides binary compatible support for the entire IBM UNIX product line including IBM Power Systems, System p, System i, pSeries, iSeries servers as well as the BladeCenter JSxx blade servers and IntelliStation POWER workstations. AIX also supports qualified systems offered by hardware vendors participating in the AIX Multiple Vendor Program.

We provide support and monitoring for HP-UX and migrations.

HP-UX is a 64-bit UNIX operating system at its core, and has  over 25 year's experience and utilisation in the technical, commercial, public sector and education sectors across the  world. HP-UX runs on HP integrity and HP 9000 servers.

It integrates proven UNIX functionality with HP's advancements in high availability, security, partitioning, workload management, and instant capacity-on-demand for the benefits of risk avoidance, flexibility, quick time-to-solution, and lowered TCO.