And despite his excitement about the possibilities now that the operating system is done, Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth said he knows there’s a lot of competition in the enterprise marketplace.

“We’re modest about where we stand,” Shuttleworth said. “We know we’re a new entrant in that game and that we have a long way to go still.”

In addition to releasing the new server edition of the operating system, Ubuntu also will release Version 8.04 desktop Linux on Thursday. Both versions will be available for free download at Ubuntu’s Web site. Both are LTS releases and will be supported by Ubuntu’s commercial sponsor, Canonical Ltd., for five years, much longer than Ubuntu’s standard 18-month support cycle, he said.

“The LTS [does] appeal to those who are making larger scale deployments,” such as businesses, that want to replace their systems again for a long time,” he said. “I think this is our most significant release ever.”

The enterprise version is certified for use on a host of Sun x86 servers, Shuttleworth said, though it will not be offered as a preinstalled operating system by Sun. Other vendors have provided hardware for certification compatibility and other testing, which is pending.

“We’re truly not yet seen by the hardware community as a preload candidate,” Shuttleworth said, but the company is working with hardware vendors to try to encourage such partnerships.

Two key features in the new server release are built-in support for two virtualization platforms, the free software KVM platform and VMware‘s platform, as well as a “significant uptake in [independent software vendor] certifications” for enterprise applications that will run on the new operating system.

“There’s a great portfolio of ISVs on the server side who’ve all indicated to us that they will certify on this release,” he said, including Zend, Zimbra, Alfresco, VMware and others. “That’s a very encouraging story. Perhaps the most important thing from my perspective is the fact that all of those ISVs are saying that they are now hearing quite consistently from customers that Ubuntu is now a very serious option for them both on the desktop and on the server.”

So now that Ubuntu has an enterprise-ready server operating system, will the company begin following the model of other Linux vendors, such as Red Hat Inc., and create an offering for enterprise applications as well?

“No, I think I can categorically rule out … any sort of shift from Canonical into the application space,” Shuttleworth said. “We far prefer to partner with vendors of open-source and proprietary applications. That’s been a key driver, for example, of strategy with virtualization. We’ve partnered with VMware. We make sure that Ubuntu meets their standards, that it is the most optimized and tested platform that we can make … on their virtualization infrastructure.”

“Ubuntu’s focus will continue to be on the operating systems … instead of eating away up the stack as other companies have done,” he said.

Instead, he said, Ubuntu will continue to work with partner ISVs that are the true creators of application innovations.

“These are companies that are investing in the actual innovation itself, the evolution of the key components in that platform. It’s very clear to me that we should not pursue a path that would put us in opposition or contention with those key partners. I would much rather learn how Ubuntu can be a sales channel for them, how Ubuntu could help drive their revenue rather than trying to identify the key pieces of the stack and try to acquire those.”

“It’s a very clear difference in our stated strategies between Ubuntu and some of the other players in the Linux space,” he said. “I think that will deliver a more vibrant result for end users.”

Dell Inc. continues to offer Ubuntu desktop Linux on several of its consumer laptop and desktop computers.

In the past few weeks, Zend has teamed up with Rackspace, a leading web hosting provider. It’s also signed an agreement with Ibuildings, an Anglo-Dutch software consultancy company, to provide training and support services in the UK. And last year, Zend partnered with Microsoft, despite the software giant offering a competing platform.

A closer look at these partnerships suggests the company – and PHP itself – may be ready for the big time.

Overcoming its roots

Partners such as Rackspace and Microsoft can help overcome one of the largest hurdles in moving into the enterprise arena: the record of PHP development and the strength of Java as the principle software language in enterprise consultancy – both of which stem back to the history of how PHP has evolved culturally within the software community.

With Java as the de facto academic choice, PHP has grown out of the “hobbyist” programmer, generally self-taught and with all of the issues that entails. Until only a few years ago, the concepts of best practice development, coding frameworks and even having a methodology were alien to the hackers of the PHP community, invariably spinning off from the Perl programmers of old.

While these developers were fine for creating the odd microsite, their lack of discipline and structure was akin to an unguided nuke on enterprise projects, while the maturity of the Java community was more like a tomahawk. And IT directors quite rightly didn’t want huge fiery ends to their projects by geniuses who had no interest in collaborating when they could enjoy all the benefits from the cool, precise child of Sun.

But now that Zend Framework, the open source scaffold for PHP development, has passed through a troublesome puberty (version one was released last year to some acclaim), and that more and more companies with web sites in PHP are adopting the procedures and practices of a “grown-up” language, does this mean that PHP is going to be seen as a realistic alternative to Java in the enterprise?

Taking on Java

With Zend’s star rising, is it enough to overcome the bias in large e-commerce firms? Zend have an uphill struggle on a cultural level: many blue-chip companies have a policy of only hiring developers with a 2:1 Computer Science degree, and the majority of UK universities are still teaching Java.

Even though both languages are object-oriented and have more then cursory similarities, does this mean that Java will continue to be the forerunner?

Vic Wyatt, business development manager for Leeds Metropolitan University, doesn’t think so. “We’ve recently signed with Zend to provide our students a worthwhile group of modules in PHP,” said Wyatt, speaking about the university’s PHP academy, which helps students learn the language as well as get commercial accreditation via the Zend Certified Engineer exam.

“Java is perceived, rightly or wrongly, as having had its day. We’re simply responding to the market, and the market is clearly picking up on PHP,” he said.

In addition, the university is working to place its students at companies using PHP. According to Wyatt, several large companies are involved, including network provider Orange. “We need to give our students opportunities that are real and meaningful,” Wyatt said.

Rackspace turns to Zend

With more partnerships, PHP-trained students will have more opportunities to take their skills to the enterprise market.

The Rackspace offering – the hosting firm is keen to stress that it isn’t a product – is a Red Hat environment running Zend Platform. This proprietary server technology provides a whole host of features for increasing performance, testing and debugging PHP applications – all key to making PHP friendlier for a business audience.

David Goulden, enterprise additions product manager for Zend, detailed the improvements the new partnership would offer for businesses. “When we initially worked together, it wasn’t synchronized,” he admitted. “We were working on a case-by-case basis [with Rackspace], with no official agreements in place. That’s all changed, and for the better of our customers.”

Doug Loewe, managing director for Rackspace in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, agreed. “We’ve been looking to expand our loose federation of partners, all of them fast-moving and able to stand shoulder to shoulder with us to provide our customers the support they want. Zend fit that criteria for us,” he said.

Zend are now training key Rackspace tech personnel in Zend Platform, and a clear vendor escalation path has been drawn up between the companies. “It’s a natural progression for us,” said Loewe. “There is a massive overlap between our customer bases.”

While Zend Platform is hardly new to the market, the acceptance of the architecture by Rackspace is an important step for Zend in moving into the enterprise market.

A bit of Microsoft maturity

There’s no stronger mark of a technology’s maturity than when Microsoft takes it seriously. Last year, Microsoft and Zend became partners to provide a better PHP offering on Windows 2003 Server – a much needed move to overcome the Unix bias of PHP’s functionality.

“We want to make it so as many developers can run on Windows as possible,” said Mark Quirk, Microsoft UK’s head of technology for development and platform. “So it made perfect sense.”

But does that mean Microsoft’s .Net and PHP can co-exist within the enterprise market? “I don’t think it changes the position of Zend in the enterprise,” said Quirk. “We’re not trying to make it work well in the enterprise or anything. ASP .Net works well in the enterprise.”

Despite the defence of Microsoft’s own programming framework, Quirk is far from belittling PHP’s inclusion on Windows Server. “Which platform would I recommend: .Net,” he said. “But as a platform provider, we want our platform to work for everyone.”

He said that making the platform better means more applications will be running on windows. “Having people run it on Windows will benefit us,” he said.

The verdict

This bodes well for the future of PHP in the enterprise, said Ivo Jansch, chief technology officer for the other recent Zend partner, Ibuildings. Jansch is currently writing a book for the well known PHP|Architect series, called Enterprise PHP Development – clearly a strong indicator of where he feels PHP will progress in the future.

Speaking before coming to the UK for the PHPLondon’08 conference, he said: “We’re seeing more and more uptake in PHP for business applications. It’s being taken more seriously.”

Referring to a recent survey by Nexen that puts PHP adoption on the Web at 33 per cent, Jansch compared the uptake of PHP in commercial applications to the rise of Linux. “We’re seeing the same pattern. There was a time when Linux was thought of as a hobby for enthusiasts only. Now look at the market. It’s the same for PHP too.”

IBM unfurled the PowerVM moniker in front of journalists today, as it announced new virtualization software aimed at small- to medium-sized business along with fresh Power6-based servers. Combined, this software and hardware gives IBM one of the more flexible server platforms going in the Unix realm. Even better from a volume standpoint, IBM’s wares can compete against VMware and others on the x86 server virtualization front.

So, here’s the deal.

Up to this point, IBM has offered something called Advanced Power Virtualization (APV) on its Unix gear. The Standard Edition APV was basically just IBM’s hypervisor that has been available since 2004. When IBM’s first Power6-based server arrived last year, an Enterprise Edition of APV appeared that facilitated the Live Partition Mobility technology, which lets customers move a running OS and applications between physical machines. IBM thinks APV is sweeter than Scarlett Johansson dipped in chocolate and pitches it as a major win against Sun and HP. Customers can use APV, among other things, to more or less avoid the old days of planned weekend downtime by applying patches and the like on-the-fly.

Now IBM has chucked out the APV name in favor of PowerVM. In addition, it’s offering PowerVM in a lower-end Express configuration for SMBs. The optional software will cost just $40 per core (for three virtual servers) in the Express bundle, making it way cheaper than VMware’s ESX Server package that can go for more than $2,000 per socket. VMware might argue that it includes more goodies with its ESX Infrastructure Suite package than IBM does with PowerVM, but you can take that up with the vendors or your spiritual leader.

The Standard flavor of PowerVM will run about $850 per core on midrange systems, while the Enterprise code, which includes the Live Partition Mobility, costs $1,500 per core.

But you still need to whip out your Bedazzler because there’s more, more, more.

All of the PowerVM flavors will include PowerVM Lx86 at no additional charge. It slices; it dices; it turns carrots into Taj Mahal replicas with the flick of the wrist.

Sorry, no, PowerVM Lx86 was actually known before as System P Application Virtual Environment or PAVE. This is the code that IBM requested from Transitive to run Linux/x86 applications unmodified on Power systems.

Now any old IBM customer with 40 bones can run Linux apps on a fancy Power6 box and then virtualize the heck out of them.

If you’re still not moved, then IBM has some hardware to throw at you.

Come Feb., customers can buy the new p 550 system with Power6 chips. This 4U box will support one to four processors and up to 256GB of memory. That’s a ton of memory for a relatively small box, but IBM thinks the database hunger is out there to feed the beast.

In addition, IBM will ship the p 520 system, which is a 4U box as well available with one, two or four cores. We’re guessing the one-core chip is a deflated Power6 with just one core activated.

IBM has yet to release more detailed specs on the hardware, but we’ll bring them to you in Feb or sooner if you mail them in.

For those who give a hoot, IBM will ship a new version of the i5/OS operating system for System i boxes in March. IBM said the fresh OS will run on its Power6-based JS22 server.

Also, IBM will support AIX and Linux on the JS22 and JS21 Express blade servers plugging into its BladeCenter S chassis, which is targeted at SMBs.

IBM hopes all of this gear will help it apply more pressure on Sun and HP in the Unix game.

The company claims that customers have flocked to the rather limited Power6 options that have been available with IBM selling 4,100 midrange servers based on the chip. Around 40 per cent of those units were sold with the 4.7GHz version of Power6, while the rest went out with 4.2GHz and 3.5GHz chips. In addition, IBM has seen customers opt for its virtualization goodies on 70 per cent of the Power6-based systems sold – up from 40 per cent on older gear.