Veritas makes Linux port

When it comes to specialized storage and server software, Veritas Software Corp. provides customers with management tools that can span the various computer platforms typically found in large organizations, reducing training requirements and management costs.

To this end, Veritas has ported two more of its main products to the Linux operating system, an increasingly popular, low-cost alternative to other commercial operating systems.

The two products — Cluster Server, which links together multiple servers so that one can take over in case another fails, and ServPoint NAS, which turns standard servers into easy-to-manage network-attached storage devices — are available now. Earlier this year, Veritas rolled out native Linux versions of its backup and storage resource management software.

The move toward Linux will accommodate enterprise customers, including the government, that are using Linux for routine applications, said Paul Smith, Veritas' vice president of government operations. Veritas products also run on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows server operating systems and several versions of Unix.

The company's goal is to give customers "a common solution stack for storage across platforms," Smith said. This is especially important in government because "diminishing resources mean that you have to do more with less."