Gartner, users, weigh in on Oracle/Red Hat support battle

Gartner says Oracle’s offer to support Red Hat Linux users is good for the industry

Linux & Open Source Newsletter  By Phil Hochmuth, Network World, 11/06/06

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Oracle gave the open-source IT industry a jolt, announcing at the end of last month that it will offer its own support services for Red Hat servers running the company's software. Now some industry experts and others are calling the move good for Linux and the industry, if not for Red Hat.

IT research and consulting firm Gartner issued a report last week heaping broad praise on the Oracle move. Gartner says this puts businesses running Oracle and Red Hat in the data center in a great position to get better support, or lower their maintenance contracts — whether they choose to go with either Oracle or Red Hat.

In the face of growing complexity of Oracle software running on Red Hat, Gartner says consolidating support for the operating system with the application will reduce finger-pointing and provide better support for Oracle/Red Hat systems.

Gartner says users should begin thinking about piloting a system running the Oracle version of Red Hat to see how the Linux derivative behaves under heavy loads. Also, the consultancy advises, "ensure that independent software vendors confirm, in writing, that they will keep their software synchronized with Oracle's distribution."

For those with no inkling to switch Red Hat support to Oracle, Gartner says this is also a good time to renegotiate pricing on a Red Hat Network services contract.

"Large [Red Hat customers] should expect 50% to 70% discounts on list prices," of Red Hat's premium support packages, Gartner says.

Readers of this newsletter also seemed to support the Oracle position on taking on Red Hat support.

“An interesting aspect of open source is the benefit of market forces," says one reader. "The ensuing battle between Oracle and Red Hat will result in a better product for users. With both companies competing for business, quality will go up and/or prices will come down."

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