PAPIC: A number of our technologies have been put in open source, although we're not completely an open-source product. Unicorn is being placed into open source as one of the vital pieces that will make Linux a very interoperable platform, not only with other Linux platforms, but with any other platform out there. We feel this is one of the key technologies that will make Linux overall a much better play and much easier to integrate into existing infrastructures, which is one of the key problems Linux faces today. It will be a vehicle through which our autonomic technologies will be able to configure and run dissimilar networks. We feel that that is so crucial to the success of Linux.
CRN: How does Net Integration's system integrate with other Linux deployments?
PAPIC: We have something called Sandbox, where you will be able to run something like a Red Hat distribution. That distribution will be running in its own, self-contained 'sandbox,' and it will be treated very much like any other Linux server. In other words, it will run in a protected space. You will not be able to destabilize the rest of the Linux control system. But you will be able to run Red Hat and deploy Oracle on it and then essentially zip it into a container that you can redeploy on any number of Linux installations anywhere in a rapid fashion. And if something explodes or goes wrong, our net intelligence will be able to go back in and clean that up and bring it back up--just as you would do with, let's say, a mail server if it went down.
CRN: Do you think having proprietary technologies integrated with a base open-source platform will confuse the market?
PAPIC: We feel that this is the only viable way for open source to establish itself. For open source to really make sense, it needs to be commercial. People have to have ability to call somebody for help. I think the way Linux will ultimately win is through people like us. You will have heavy use of the open-source technology at some level, and you will have proprietary, advanced intellectual property that is being developed by companies to create viable solutions. I would call it a symbiotic relationship in which you actually have the best of both worlds. You have the best of open source, and you have the best of a traditional corporate environment that is very focused on delivering real products for real customers.
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