(BPT) - In an increasingly intelligent, cloud native, edge-network-driven world, how do we properly harness the power of open-source software? Developers and CTOs know Linux has always been open-source, freely available and one of the world’s most reliable and secure operating systems. Yet as the Linux market has expanded, so have the challenges of finding and implementing the right Linux base and fundamentals for the next generation of server and edge use cases.
It's about, in part, the sheer volume of Linux options available — hundreds of variations, with many more under development. But the variety and requirements of use cases are also adding to the complexity, making it difficult to find and implement off-the-shelf reference platforms that can meet such a broad range of requirements today. There's also the pressure to innovate rapidly. In this complex environment, one size doesn’t fit all and utilizing the old enterprise IT Linux distributions is not an optimized solution for the edge-to-cloud use scenarios.
In the face of all this complexity, Linux fundamentals remain: open, innovative, customizable, and offers flexibility with assisting services for more specific requirements such as production assistance, security monitoring, remediation and training.
But, it's getting more difficult to find and latch onto those fundamentals when the commercial Linux distribution trend is to become the basis of vast ecosystems and higher order solutions.
What's the best way forward from here?
The recent case of CentOS
CentOS was offered as a free, open-source, downstream distribution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Millions of virtual machines, computers, systems and platforms worldwide started consuming CentOS Linux.
However, shortly after the acquisition of Red Hat by IBM in 2019, Red Hat announced that it would shift full investment to CentOS Stream, the upstream development platform for upcoming RHEL releases. Support for CentOS came to an end in June 2024.
CentOS users faced a range of options, each of which introduced new sources of cost, risk and complexity:
What would a better fit look like?
There is a pressing need to get back to the spirit of open source and harness Linux packages that are the right fit for enterprise and embedded use cases — from the enterprise to far-edge embedded systems and devices.
Such a solution would combine freely available, open-source Debian Linux with robust community-hardened packages tuned for performance, security and ease of use. These packages would be tailored to mission-critical sector-specific use cases and their unique requirements. And they would be backed by enterprise commercial support, professional services and consultancy, and unified software tools from vendors with proven experience in the Linux market.
Specifically, the core attributes of this enterprise-to-edge solution would include:
Wind River, as an open-source proponent for more than 20 years, is fully committed to reclaiming the true spirit of open source and bringing the vision of a simplified, reliable and flexible Linux for servers and the edge into reality. To learn more about Wind River's current Linux-based open-source offerings, including eLxr Pro, visit their website.
