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The article reports on the plan of Cisco Systems to acquire PostPath, a Linux-based replacement to Microsoft Exchange providers in Great Britain. The author stated that PostPath aims to eliminate the need for full-time Exchange server administrators which is beneficial to Exchange professionals. In addition, PostPath's product supports Exchange's low level network protocols without using plug-ins. Meanwhile, Cisco is building a Web 2.0 software-as-a-service collaboration portfolio.

The article presents information related to Oracle 11g, a database management system, along with a note on its certification. It informs that 11g is the latest version of the Oracle database. It is stated that Oracle certification is the most expensive to achieve of the three leading mid-market databases. Oracle 11g leads to lower datacentre costs, such as a three-fold reduction in disc space using compression. 11g is available only on Linux and Windows operating systems. Oracle Corp. has the broadest customer base of all database suppliers, though it runs up against competitors like Sybase Inc. in investment banking.

The article offers information on Perl, a computer program language, used for developing Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts. It states that Perl, with its roots in C and shell programming, supports procedural, object-oriented and functional programming. It reports that Larry Wall, creator of the language, began work in 1987 while working at Unisys Corp., and in addition to C, he took pieces from Fortran, Lisp, Ada and other languages. It also reports that Perl 5, the current version, was released in 1994 with features such as modularity for code reuse. It mentions that Perl runs on Unix, Linux, Mac OS and Windows operating systems. It also states that Perl 6, the new version, will include borrowings from more recent languages, such as Ruby and Python.

The article reports on the significance of Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX) 6.1. AIX is a series of proprietary operation system introduced in 1986 and it is based on Unix company and sold by International Business Machine Corp. The AIX Version 6.1 has offered new virtualization capabilities and workload partitions. It reveals that workload partitions will enable multiple virtual AIX 6.1 environments to be created within a single AIX 6.1 instance. Accordingly, AIX 6.1 has also introduced role based access control and extends the Security Expert, which offers a template-based way of managing security settings.

The article presents information on Sun Java System Application Server (SJSAS), the commercial implementation of the Glassfish community project. It is a part of the Java Enterprise System, supporting development technologies such as Java Studio Enterprise, Java Studio Creator and Netbeans 6.0 integrated development environment. The clustering support in SJSAS allows servers to be grouped for scalability and to replicate data in-memory for failover protection and high availability. Sun Microsystems Inc. offers a one-day workshop for people already involved in application design, deployment and administration.

The article presents information on open source system software Solaris. Solaris is an operating system developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. It was historically closed source, but most of the code base has now been made open source. The latest downloadable "Express" version of Solaris for developers, based on the open source Opensolaris, comes with an optional support subscription. The open source strategy provides a way for determined developers to gain experience of some highly paid skills. Sun was founded in 1982. Solaris, based on the industry standard Unix System V Release 4, gradually took over from the proprietary Sun OS during the 1990s.

The article presents information related to Mono, an open source implementation of the Microsoft .net platform. Mono was once hailed as a route out of proprietary lock-in to Microsoft Corp. According to Justin Steinman, Novell Inc.'s director of product marketing for Linux and open platform systems, and the man in charge of selling Mono to the world said that Mono essentially enables one to run .net applications on Linux, giving him the choice of developing for either platform knowing that it will run on both. Miguel de Icaza, one of the people behind the Gnome Linux desktop, started the Mono project in 2001. Mono uses existing skills, such as Visual Basic and C#. Applications created for .net can be modified and run on Linux, Windows, Solaris and other versions of Unix, and Mac OS X.

The article presents information on Microsoft DirectX and Open GL, the two popular sets of application programming interfaces (APIs) for developing three-dimensional graphics for computer games. Microsoft Corp. had announced that the latest versions, DirectX 10 and 9 Ex, can only be used with Windows Vista operating system but the an increasing number of hackers are proving it wrong. DirectX and OpenGL can also be used in other sectors requiring high-quality graphics, including engineering, aircraft pilot training and medical simulations.

The article reports that Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. are preferring Linus operating system for mobile communication devices. Embedded Linux is an open source operating system used in mobile phones, personal digital assistants, media players and other consumer devices. In April 2007, Intel announced that it wanted to offer Linux as an alternative operating system for its next generation of mobile Internet devices. In June 2007, the Linux Phone Standards consortium announced a key part of its 1.0 specification. Motorola in turn is a member of the LiMo Foundation which aims to establish a set of interfaces and standard reference components to increase the number of third-party developers for mobile devices.

The article discusses the implications of smartphones on the business condition of Symbian Ltd. in Great Britain. According to Canalys Ltd., Symbian has been favored by Nokia, cellular phone maker, and the operating system has about 72 percent of the market. On the other hand, it is under pressure from the increasing use of Linux and the Windows Mobile from Microsoft. The operating system of Symbian is designed to make the most of the limited capacity of handheld mobile devices. The operating system has its own libraries, use interface frameworks and toolkits. Vodafone, Orange, and NTT DoCoMo are one of the networks supporting the firm.

The article offers information on C++, a general purpose, high level programming language that allows programmers to write low-level code. C++ was developed by program designer Bjarne Stroustrup as an enhancement to the C programming language, which is widely used for writing operating systems like Unix. The advantages of C++, such as object oriented programming, modularity and portability of code, are now common features of other languages. Furthermore, C++ is widely used on systems programming, telecommunications, embedded systems and finance applications in Great Britain.

The article informs that Websphere is International Business Machine Corp.'s (IBM) constantly expanding platform of integration and application infrastructure software. Websphere is built on J2EE and uses other open standards such as XML and web services. It has been described as a distributed, on-demand operating system, and it is a key part of IBM's service oriented architecture. Websphere includes an Application Server Toolkit built on the Eclipse open source integrated development environment, which is backed by IBM and most suppliers that are committed to Java.

The article presents information on Qt, a C++ toolkit for multi-platform graphical user interface (GUI) development. Work on Qt began in the early 1990s. Trolltech was founded in 1994, and the first commercial Qt offering was launched in 1995. Qt applications run natively on Windows, Linux and Macintosh. Qt has influential users such as Adobe, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and mobile phone manufacturer Motorola. There is an embedded edition, Qtopia, for handheld devices. Customers include aerospace companies, computer aided design suppliers, film animators and Google Earth.

The article presents information regarding MySQL AB's MySQL, an open source relational database management (RDBMS) system. MySQL AB is a Microsoft Visual Studio Industry Partner, and it is developing a downloadable plugin for Visual Studio 2005. According to the analyst firm Evans Data Corp (EDC), MySQL has a 44% share of the global RDBMS market. MySQL is said to have started with a limited feature set to solve problems in datawarehousing and the web in 1995. The system run on AIX, HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, Sun OS, Windows and many others.

The article reports on the breakthrough for the desktop version of the open source Linux operating system in Great Britain. Desktop Linux Summit included case studies of Windows-to-Linux migrations involving thousands of users which suggest that the ability to deploy administer and support Linux may become a sought-after addition to Window skills. The Portland Project began in 2005 with the mission to improve interoperability for software suppliers whose applications must work regardless of Linux distributor and desktop environment or version. Some analysts have been reporting that desktop Linux is competitive with Windows in terms of ease use.

The article presents information on Linux open source operating system. According to a survey, about 25% of enterprises will be running mission-critical business applications on the Linux open source operating system by 2009. Linux has been ported to more machines than any other operating system and it is challenging Symbian for dominance of the smartphone market. Linux is the foundation of the Lamp, Linux, Apache, MySQL/PostgreSQL, Perl/PHP/Python, development stack. As well as in the enterprise, on midrange systems and mainframes, Linux is favoured for supercomputers. Linux is generally reliable and secure, without the architectural upheavals of proprietary operating systems.

The article provides information on the general purpose hot programming language "Practical Extraction Report Language" (Perl). Originally developed for text manipulation and writing CGI scripts, it now finds an extensive use in systems administration and web development applications. It constitutes an inherent part of the Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/Python/PHP web development stack. Released by Larry Wall in 1987, it is simple and easy to learn requiring a 'Unix' and 'C' background. It is supported by Linux, Unix, Windows, Macintosh, and VMS environments. Perl developers are offered salaries ranging from £25,000 to £30,000.

The article presents questions and answers related to Java computer language. To a question related to Java platform, the author explains that Java is a platform-independent object-oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems Inc. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) was originated from the efforts of developing C++ programs. The JVM is the key to Java's application-independence, and it can run on top of most operating systems.

The article presents information on the .net Framework 3.0 software development platform released by Microsoft Corp. Computer software developers will need the platform to make use of new features in the Windows Vista operating system, such as the Windows Presentation, Workflow and Communication foundations. Version 3.0 of .net will ship with Vista by default. After initially proposing to exclude XP and Windows 2003, Microsoft is now making the new technology available by download for users of these older operating systems.

The article presents questions and answers related to ethical hacking. One question was related to ethical hackers. Another question was related to its origination. Other question focused on how difficult it is to master ethical hacking. It was answered that ethical hackers try to use the same methods criminal hackers would employ to hack an organization's systems to expose security loopholes.

The article presents information on Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). IIS is a set of internet-based services for servers using the Windows operating system. It is the world's second most popular web server in terms of overall websites. IIS was released with Windows NT 3.51. Active Server Pages (ASP) came out with IIS 3.0. But early versions of IIS were plagued with vulnerabilities. With IIS 6.0, Microsoft Corp. has reduced the "attack surface" of IIS, and introduced a fault-tolerant architecture which enabled vulnerabilities to be isolated, and affected websites and applications taken out of production without affecting the rest.

The article presents information on Oracle Database log Express Edition (XE) developed by Oracle Corp. Oracle Application Express release 2.1 is included in XE as the front-end and provides a graphical environment to create database-centric web applications. XE has a wizard-driven environment that makes it an easy-to-use tool. Platforms on which it runs are Apple Mac, Microsoft Windows, HP-UX, Linux, IBM AIX, Sun Solaris and IBM z/OS. One can download Oracle Database XE as a freeware from the Oracle Technology Network.

The article presents information on the databases from International Business Machines Corp. (IBM). IBM's DB2 databases hold more structured data than any rival product. IBM remains supreme on the mainframe, despite challenges from Oracle for Linux on zSeries, and competitors such as Computer Associates Inc., Cincom and Software AG. IBM covers the full range of platform including Windows, Unix and Linux, and its own midrange systems. DB2 9, previously known as Viper was launched with versions for large businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises. DB2 9 represents a technology breakthrough, seamlessly integrating relational and XML data.

This article reports that Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDap) is used in most suppliers' directory products, from Microsoft Corp. to the open source community. It began as an implementation of the cumbersome X-500 protocol that would be viable for desktop devices. LDap is used to access information on people, such as postal, telephone and e-mail addresses, and permissions, devices and services. It is used in identity verification and single sign-on applications. But it also has a range of applications beyond what most people would regard as directories. It is cross-platform and standards-based, so it is not limited by hardware, operating system or database, and provides a basis for integration of directories within and between organisations. LDap-aware client applications use standard protocols and filters to request LDap servers to look up indexed data. LDap client applications and servers from different suppliers should not need to be customised to work with one another. In fact, beyond the use of the protocols and query commands, LDap does not specify how either the client or server application needs to work.

The article offers information on the HP-UX, which is said to be Hewlett-Packard Co.'s version of the Unix server operating system. HP-UX supports high availability, provisioning, and workload management that top-end enterprise users look for. Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP), Sun Microsystems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. have 70% of the Unix market between them and according to analyst firm IDC, HP-UX led the market for high-end enterprise Unix in 2005. HP launched HP-UX in 1986, when mid-range system suppliers were moving away from proprietary operating systems to Unix.

The article presents information about Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Solaris Enterprise System. Early in 2005 Sun began to make core products such as server operating system Solaris and the Java Enterprise System, and associated developer and management tools, available in no-cost, open source form. Sun explained that this was to get more people trying out its products. More software adoption means access to more customers, which in turn means more opportunity for Sun and Sun partners to sell supported products and services, it said. Sun's main motivation, as the supplier of the leading Unix implementation, was to fight off the growing dominance of Linux. But, pointing out that Linux was the flagship of the open source movement, ported to more than 80 platforms and with widely available skills, British analyst Robin Bloor commented that Solaris is a heavy-duty operating system that has many capabilities that Linux currently aspires to but does not yet deliver. Making Solaris open source has succeeded in extending the range of platforms it can be used with.

The article presents information on BAE Systems PLC's Aqualogic software suite for managing service-oriented architecture (SAO). BEA provides two versions of its development toolkit, Workshop Studio, and the open-source Project Beehive, which is managed by the Apache Software Foundation. According to Eric Stahl, BEA's senior director of investor relations, the whole point of SOA is to facilitate interoperability of heterogeneous systems, regardless of what hardware, operating system, database or programming language the service was built on. Weblogic provides the application infrastructure, Aqualogic the service infrastructure.

This article presents information on Websphere, a computer software developed by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM). IBM describes Websphere as its integration software platform. It includes IBM's entire middleware infrastructure that includes servers, services and tools. IBM's service oriented architecture strategy is built around Websphere in the form of the Websphere Business Integration Server Foundation and the newer Enterprise Service Bus idea also depends on it. Websphere is modular and like all IBM's mainstream products uses open standards like J2EE, Enterprise Java Beans, Java Message Server and Web Services. Version 1 of Websphere appeared in 1998. It was steadily extended with Corba, Java Beans and Linux support. In 2001 IBM began describing Websphere as its strategic integration platform. Version 5 was a major rewrite and the codebase was unified across all platforms. The J1EE 1.4-compliant Version 6 was released in December 2004. Websphere is used both to build and monitor the on-demand IT infrastructure and to build and deploy the applications that run on the infrastructure.

The article presents information about desktop Linux. Desktop Linux is simply the Linux operating system with a desktop graphical user interface. Linux can be scaled from the desktop to the largest enterprise system, and it has done well in the datacentre, compared with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows. Most routine desktop applications are covered, with some products familiar from other environments, such as Adobe's Acrobat reader and the Firefox browser. Margins on low-cost software are obviously low, and Linux champions have accused analysts of deliberately putting people off desktop Linux in the enterprise because of the threat to their revenues. Although Linux adoption is rising steadily, a survey by industry body the Open Source Development Lab found the shortage of applications the biggest obstacle to take-up. There are few major suppliers that ship personal computers with Linux pre-installed, however, Dell can provide a system with Linux, as can a few smaller UK suppliers.

The article reports that PostgreSQL is the leading alternative database to MySQL open source development and deployment platform. Where MySQL places a high value on ease of use and takes a minimalist approach to ensure simplicity and fast performance, Postgres focuses on providing rich features and standards compliance. The open source database market is becoming crowded and big players are getting in on the act. About 12 companies are involved in PostgreSQL development including Red Hat, database supplier Pervasive and Fujitsu. With the release of PostgreSQL 8.0 in January 2005, PostgreSQL is becoming a serious option for enterprise databases. The latest features include Java stored procedures, point-in-time recovery, asynchronous replication and nested transactions. PostgreSQL began in 1986 at the University of California, Berkeley. Its original author was Michael Stonebraker, the creator of the Ingres relational database management system. PostgreSQL is a credible competitor to proprietary enterprise databases such as Oracle. It is highly scalable, both in the volume of data it can manage and the number of concurrent users it can support. Some installations manage in excess of 4Tbytes of data.

The article presents information on the Apache HTTP server. It is the product of an open source initiative dedicated to keeping the Internet free from commercial control. It is a key part of the Lamp (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl/Python) platform. Apache has been the most popular HTTP server on the Internet since 1996. It was originated at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), University of Illinois, in 1995. Apache is highly configurable and can be extended using compiled modules to provide support for many different server side programming languages, authentication schemes and other features. It is getting easier, with a number of graphical user interfaces now available. Apache has been taken up across the board, from bloggers to transnational corporations who could easily afford the most expensive of Apache's competitors. Paid-far training is available from independent training companies, and from suppliers of packaged software that includes Apache, such as Oracle and Novell.

This article focuses on the Linux operating system. Linux is a freeware, Unix-type operating system that is distributed along with its source code so users can make changes and then redistribute it. There is a strange imbalance related to Linux. At one end it is dependent on a handful of talented individuals, with constant speculation about overwork, burnout and slowing down of creative effort. At the other end, thousands of the world's best-paid IT staff are promoting and selling it, and repackaging it to meet the demands of corporations and governments. In 1991, University of Helsinki's student Linus Torvalds requested help developing a free operating system he described as just a hobby. Linux is still strongest in the server market. IDC figures published in May 2005 put server market growth at 13.5%, with Linux at 31.3%, Windows at 10.7% and Unix at 5%. For several years it has been predicted that Linux will break into the desktop market, overtaking Macintosh and making a serious dent in the Windows operating system. Analyst firm Gartner said that given a greenfield environment, most users could get their work done either on Windows or Linux, Microsoft Office or Openoffice software.

This article presents information on WinFX, which is the application programming interface used in Vista, the forthcoming version of Windows. In 2003, when Microsoft unveiled WinFX, the replacement for Win32, analyst firm Gartner warned that developers would need to gain skills in the .net Framework to make use of the new API. Recent announcements concerning Windows Vista, better known by the codename "Longhorn", spell the long-term demise of the Win32 programming model, and unmanaged code. Windows Vista's new approaches to presentation and communications, the Windows Presentation and Communications Foundations will both be exposed through WinFX. Developers may continue to develop applications with Win32, but the advantages of WinFX are persuasive, and include developing applications that should run unmodified both on the Windows Vista platform and other .net platforms. According to Microsoft Corp., those who can already write managed code on the .net Framework will find WinFX "like second nature." WinFX will also be made available on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

This article reports that Symbian is an open standards operating system (OS) for handheld computers and data-enabled mobile phones. It supports Java, PC synchronisation, Bluetooth wireless access and GPRS packet-switched data. According to IDC, by 2008 more than 130 million smartphones will be sold worldwide each year. A substantial chunk of that market is likely to go to Symbian. The number of phones sold worldwide with the Symbian OS more than doubled in 2004 to 14 million. The phones come from some of the world's leading mobile suppliers, including Nokia, Panasonic, Siemens and Sony Ericsson. Of a total of 48 Symbian models, 12 are designed for 3G networks in Europe and Japan. The number of Symbian OS applications shipped in 2004 nearly doubled, from 1,962 to 3,804. Hundreds of companies produce tools and applications for the Symbian OS, from small software houses to the likes of IBM, Borland, Hewlett-Packard and Symantec. British handheld computer supplier Psion formed Symbian in 1998, along with Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola.

The article presents information on the demand for Embedded C system developers. Although much embedded coding is done in assembly language, the best supported language is Embedded C. In 2003, the International Standards Organization (ISO) officially adopted Embedded C as an extension of the C language. The ISO explained that programs for embedded systems were becoming more complex and being replaced more frequently. Embedded systems have evolved separately from end-user systems because of hardware constraints. Although eight-bit processors are still common, 32-bit and increasingly, 64-bit processors are used in embedded systems. Avionics and medical systems could not tolerate the level of failure accepted in desktop applications, or even banking systems. In cars and planes, defence systems, transport control systems, medical equipment, domestic appliances and consumer electronics. Embedded programming guru Jack Ganssle described creating firmware as the art of cramming more into less: more features into less memory, more performance into fewer CPU cycles.

The article provides information on Active Directory software. Active Directory, included with Windows Server, is intended to provide centralized, secure management of networks on any scale from local to global. It is based on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, which is also used by Novell, IBM, Sun and Red Hat for their directory services products. Active Directory was introduced with Windows Server 2000. With Windows Server 2003, Microsoft added a lot more management tools to Active Directory. If a user has Windows Server experience he/she can learn the basics of configuring and deploying or administering Active Directory in a week. Analysts estimate that less than 25% of Microsoft installations have implemented Active Directory, and many cite it as a reason for not upgrading from earlier releases of Windows.

The article presents information on C#. C# is a programming language from Microsoft Corp. designed to work with the .net Framework. It is seen as Microsoft's response to Java, which in many ways it resembles. Microsoft broke with long-standing practice with C # by inviting developers to contribute to the language; by getting it ratified by a standards body; and by making the source code available so that versions for other platforms such as Mac and Linux could be developed. With co-sponsors Hewlett-Packard and Intel, Microsoft submitted the language to standards body ECMA, which was later instrumental in getting C # made an ISO standard, like Cobol and other non-proprietary languages. Although easier to work with than Java, C# lacks the range of third-party tools, but Microsoft is hard at work developing a network of partners to provide these. C# will be fairly familiar to C, C++ and Java developers. Developers can expect a salary of £30,000-£35,000, rising to £40,000 for senior developers and team leaders.

This article focuses on Microsoft Corp.'s Active Server Pages (ASP), a hosting environment or programming framework within which scripting languages such as Visual Basic, C and J can be used to build interactive server-based web applications. Classic ASP was confined to Microsoft's own platforms and languages, but it has now been opened out by Microsoft and third parties so it can be used in conjunction with most operating systems, web servers and scripting languages. However, it is still closely integrated with Visual Studio .net and the rest of the .net technologies.

This article discusses issues related to Linux operating system. Linux is an open source operating system widely used on servers. Analyst firm IDC said Linux desktops outstripped Macintosh shipments in 2002, and predicted that by 2006 Linux would probably have a larger installed base than the Macintosh OS. The winners included installing applications such as Openoffice and Mozilla on Windows for a transition period, setting up Linux workstations to resemble Windows desktops and using Gnome or KDE. IDC, more bullish than Gartner Inc., has predicted that Linux will have 6% of the paid-for desktop market by 2007. Cross-platform products enabling applications to be developed and/or run on both Linux and Windows include Qt, the Wine Libraries and Borland's Kylix. The purchase cost of Linux desktop software is a fraction of what Microsoft Corp. charges for an equivalent product. Red Hat has proposed an annual subscription of less than £ 2,000 for 50 PCs, although some say the service and migration costs cancel out the savings. The Linux kernel has been designed so that administrators can maintain the system without taking the whole thing down and rebooting it. INSETS: Rates of pay;Training.

This article focuses on the technology of Linux. Linux is a version of Unix that runs on a variety of hardware platforms and is widely used for servers. As open source software, it is free, although it is distributed for a fee, along with technical support, by suppliers such as Red Hat Inc. and SuSE. Linux has suffered a couple of setbacks in its previously unstoppable rise. One is the lawsuit by SCO Group Inc. against other Linux suppliers, and threat of suing users, claiming that some versions contain proprietary code. The other setback was the fallout from the City of Munich's decision to replace Microsoft Corp. with Linux. Nevertheless, Linux server sales in the first quarter of the year grew 56.9%. Now the Free Standards Group has released a specification to keep Linux from fragmenting, which is supported by Dell Computer Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., Intel Corp., AMD, Novell, IBM and Red Hat. Of 360 large European enterprises, Gartner Inc. found more than half already use Linux as a web server, 30% as an application server and 25% for databases. INSETS: Rates of pay;Training.

This article focuses on the 40-year-old programming language COBOL. In 1959 the U.S. Department of Defense convened Codasyl, the Committee on Data Systems Languages, which went on to develop the Common Business Orientated Language. Intended to be machine-independent, but in practice vulnerable to extensions, Cobol came under the control of the American National Standards Institute and the International Standards Organisation. It interoperates with Java so that Cobol applications can access chunks of code called Enterprise Java Beans that run on a J2EE-compliant EJB server, such as IBM's Websphere Application Server. Enterprise Cobol 3.3 also has XML capabilities, meaning Cobol applications can process XML in the most popular mainframe environments, such as Cics, IMS and MQSeries and populate Cobol data structures with the content of XML documents. Enhanced Cobol interoperability with Enterprise Java Beans, including development tools to allow Cobol programs to be loaded into Websphere Application Server for z/OS operating system.

The article informs that IBM's mainframe operating system z/OS has a long pedigree. IBM's current flagship operating system is z/OS, released in 2000 at the same time as the 64-bit eServer zSeries 900 mainframe. Mainframe and operating system had both been redesigned primarily for e-business. However, IBM mainframe users have plenty of choice, including z/OS's predecessors, OS/390 and its siblings VSE/ESA and VM/ESA. VM/ESA has in turn given rise to z/VM, which uses IBM's virtualisation technology to create a number of virtual mainframes on a single mainframe, each of which can run a different operating system. INSETS: Training;Rates of pay.

The article offers information on the Oracle E-Business Suite enterprise resource planning application. It comprises a set of modules including financial, manufacturing, human resources, order processing, Internet procurement and project management, with associated business intelligence tools. It uses a single data model and collects all enterprise data in the same location. It runs on Windows, Unix and Linux operating systems.

This article focuses on DB2 which is IBM's relational database, first used for MVS mainframe environments. Since 1997, when database suppliers were investing heavily, and prematurely, in object-relational capabilities, it has been known as DB2 Universal Database (UDB). Two years ago, IBM took over former relational database management system competitor Informix and acquired 2,000 database experts and 120,000 customers. DB2 was a result of the work done by Codd and Date at IBM's San Jose Labs. Although the codebase for Windows, Unix and Linux is different to the version for z/OS and OS/400, DB2 is still a datacentre-strength product, not a desktop filing system like some of its competitors. INSETS: Training;Rates of pay.

Solaris is the best-selling implementation of Unix and holds about one third of the market. However, its share of the server business is threatened by Linux which, after initial hostility, Sun Microsystems Inc. now also supports. Solaris 9, released last year, is both an upgrade of the operating system and an attempt to challenge Linux on its own ground, with a lot of bundled software tools and add-ons, which include Sun's own products and other freeware and open source products. Solaris was designed from the outset for scalable, multi-user and multi-platform network computing.

This article focuses on computer firm Linux Inc. which has predicted to capture 30% of firm's desktops by 2006. Linux was gaining dominance on the server, but Microsoft Corp.'s operating system owned the desktop and the applications. More recently, dissatisfaction with Microsoft's new licensing terms and the sense that desktop upgrades enforced by the threat of withdrawing support does not necessarily deliver business value, have combined with lower budgets to create a much more receptive market. INSETS: Training;Rates of pay.

Novell Inc. is best known for its Netware network operating system, but these days less than 33% of the company's revenue comes from Netware. From the early 1980s to the mid-1990s Netware was the dominant local area network file and print technology. Since then, the company has been reinventing itself as a provider of "net services." Novell has steadily lost ground to Microsoft Corp. but is using Linux to fight back. In June it announced Novell Nterprise Linux Services, which integrated file, print, messaging, directory and management services. Novell began life in Utah, in 1983. When surveyed, users say that they stay with Novell because of its reliability, its lower cost of ownership and the fact that it is not affected by most viruses, which target Microsoft's products.

HP-UX is computer products company, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s (HP) version of the Unix operating system. HP released HP-UX in 1986 at a time when mid-range system suppliers were moving away from proprietary systems towards Unix, although not necessarily compatible versions. HP-UX is available in enterprise, mission-critical and technical versions. Each version is adapted to a particular mix of workloads, for example, heavy database use or intensive workstation support.

Features the operating system by Linux Inc. Design of the system; Specifications; Application of the system in business operations.