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HP announces Control Tower for Linux

RLX`s purchase by HP will be put into practice, as HP releases its first release of the server blade management software for Linux. The "HP Control Tower" is built for HP`s Blade System environment and is expected to be available starting of next month. HP Control Tower is a part of HP`s unified infrastructure management software portfolio. The software is designed specifically for Linux, but also works with HP Systems Insight Manager, which ships standard with all HP server and storage systems.

"HP Control Tower is targeted at making management of Linux on blades much simpler and to lower the cost of administration," Lee Johns, director of velocity software for enterprise servers and storage at HP, told internetnews.com. "It`s a CD appliance that`s easy to install with a wizard that essentially gives you a management and monitoring console on the system in 30 minutes. In our experience with competitive products, and even some of our own earlier ones, we`ve seen it take up to eight hours."

RLX, which originally sold complete blade systems and later moved to software only, charged for both its console and individual licenses. HP said it would make the console free of charge. HP decided to keep the same Control Tower name RLX used to maintain continuity with its customers, according to Johns. The software monitors and alerts IT administrators to changes in the computing environment, managing any system changes from a single console. The suite provisions and automates computing tasks based on policies set by administrators.