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Virtualization Might be the Answer for Linux

Chief Technology Office over at Dell, Kevin Kettler, addressed the Linux community at the Linux World convention, and said that Linux has to extend virtualization beyond the level that Linux is using it now. That will be the key element to attract more users to this open sourced operating system. Kettler began his presentation by reminding the crowd of a comment his boss Dell founder Michael Dell said during a Linux World 2000 keynote. Dell said that he did not believe that Solaris on Intel is the answer but that Dell believes the answer is Linux on Intel.

Virtualization expands the opportunities for Linux in a real way. "Linux is bound by traditional platforms, virtualization sets it free," Kettler said. "Virtualization can really open a lot of opportunities for unique software applications and environments to run on a single platform." Kettler explained that the key to Dell`s virtualization vision is the ability to easily move applications across different physical pieces of hardware. "In a virtualized environment, it becomes much cleaner around how we wrap and package things, and redeployment and reuse becomes phenomenal."

The opportunity for Linux is for Linux developers to develop unique personalities to plug into the virtualized environments. The use of virtual machines was also noted as a way to deal with legacy operating systems issues. So instead of being forced to migrate, users will now have a choice.