The FAA Saves $15 Million by Migrating to Linux 191
Neopallium writes "Red Hat has announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) saved the federal government more than $15 million in datacenter operating and upgrading costs by migrating to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. The FAA executed a major systems migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux in one-third of the original scheduled time and with 30 percent more operational efficiency than the previous system."
careful of the source (Score:5, Interesting)
Disclaimer: I love Linux (and Un*x), and I hope someday Linux (and Un*x) becomes a majority player in the computing world. But, ...
The article paints a rosy success story, but consider the source. This is a Red Hat press release. While it all may be completely true with no misdirection, I put little stock in self-congratulation, especially after an amazing experience with a similar Microsoft claim.
I worked for a major Telcom years ago and we merged with a smaller firm... Shortly after the merger, Microsoft put a full page ad in Time magazine describing an enourmous success story of how our new company now comprised of two previous companies combined the two companies' IT systems and integrated them seamlessly with Micosoft's then new .NET
platform.
This would have been an amazing success story except for the fact that:
For those who doubt, I can provide the digital photograph of the ad, I was so amazed I actually took a picture of it (I will have to dig it out, but I know I have it.)
I know many would not be surprised by a bogus claim from a Microsoft, but I don't trust that any company providing a press release to be providing real news (or trustworthy, or balanced, etc.).
This whole "press release" presented as "news" would be more honest if they placed the disclaimer information up front. (If you don't read all the way to the VERY LAST LINE of the article, you won't know the source is Red Hat.
Re:careful of the source (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:careful of the source (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:careful of the source (Score:3, Informative)
And also, when you don't care about something, you don't give a rat's ass about it, otherwise you'd care enough to go and find a rat, rip off its ass, and give it to the thing you 'dont care' about.[/end 'well known phrases' rant]
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
Here.... Here? no way this would happen here!
Re:careful of the source (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.redhat.com/about/news/prarchive/2006/f
Everything about it shouts "press release", including the SEC warnings at the bottom and the press contact information. As is typical with press releases, it was picked up and run all over the place. That's what press releases are for. Anything that comes from Business Wire is a press release.
If you think it's dishonestly masquerading as "real news," that's your mistake.
Re:careful of the source (Score:2, Insightful)
I think the OP was not so much complaining about red hat's actions as the submitters (and by extension the editors).
Red Hat releasing a press release = OK.
Slashdot featuring regurgitation of said press release on its front page as 'news' = not OK.
(At least this shows the MS / Apple Fanboys that the
Re:careful of the source (Score:5, Funny)
Not quite. Looking carefully, I found a sentence in which the author failed to use "Red Hat Enterprise Linux." There might be a scond one, but I missed it
hawk
Re:careful of the source (Score:4, Interesting)
Thanks for the info, I did not know everything from Business Wire was a press release. However, my first guess as to what a publication "Business Wire" would represent would be news about business, not press releases. When I think of Wall Street Journal, I think of articles about business and Wall Street.
As for everything about it "shouting" press release, I'm only giving my opinion, and I don't think it "shouts" press release.
I also have no problems with Red Hat or any other business issuing press releases, they SHOULD. As for whether it is something that should be on slashdot, I refer to the slogan "News that Matters". It's only my opinion, but I don't think press releases fall into that category. (I would have no problem with slashdot creating a category "press releases".)
As in my original post, I have high hopes for Linux, I just prescribe caution to readers who don't know Business Wire is a press-release publication (I didn't). And, as in the anecdotal case I cited, sometimes the press release (or ad) is not only misleading, it is completely false. (The ad I mentioned even had testimonials from Microsoft and "our company" employees... statements and testimonials which COULDN'T have been true.)
And, for the record, I hold Red Hat in high regard for their contributions to the Linux movement.
Re:careful of the source (Score:3, Insightful)
It's also pretty easy to plant a few favorable articles around the place to give yourself PR. It's just marketing. I treat slashdot articles as basically like a tech news wire.. Most of them are probably planted by marketing firms (it's not like slashdot is some secret hideout, everyone knows about it,) so take it
Re:careful of the source (Score:5, Insightful)
Slashdot doesn't practice "journalism." If you want that, look elsewhere.
It should be pointed out, though, that the
Re:careful of the source (Score:3, Insightful)
Agreed. In fact, I've seen press releases that began with the words "for immediate release" and similar verbiage... I would say that such articles are closer to being up front about their press-release status. Whereas the only thing that might be taken to be indicative of press release status for this article (aside from the print buried at the end that you point out) is that it i
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
You need to think harder. See the part in the "forward looking statements" section that reads:
"Any statements in this press release about future expectations..." (emphasis mine)
It even states right in the "article" it is a Press Release!
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
Anyone who knows what a press release looks like instantly recognized what the linked article was. And now that you know what a press release looks like, you'll be able to recognize them in the future too.
Re:careful of the source - The Real Question Here (Score:4, Interesting)
2. noone in our IT knew of this stunning success effort
3. our "integrated" systems weren't
The real question here, at least to me: Was Microsoft ever punished by your company for running this false ad?
Or did Microsoft pay for the privilege by giving you discounted software or something else of value. Something else, besides a nice lunch for the VP of MIS, I mean.
Re:careful of the source - The Real Question Here (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft was never punished because the telco couldn't admit that it wasn't true.
Re:careful of the source - The Real Question Here (Score:2)
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
Re:careful of the source (Score:4, Funny)
F*cking the article? You have a strange fetish, my friend.
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
Mind you, it could be worse. I was wondering what the Fleet Air Arm were using it for...
Grab.
Re:careful of the source (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
This should hardly be surprising.
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
Regardless of whether it is Steve "Go to Hell" Ballamer hawking the latest version of WinNT or RedHat trumpeting their "success" over the competition, I can't help associating the person with a used-car salesman.
Couldn't agree more (Score:2, Insightful)
The
FAA should've switched to Windows (Score:3, Informative)
Re:careful of the source (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know about the numbers (and the news story was cut off when I tried to access it), but the migration is real and the numbers don't seem unrealistic. They replaced a bunch of HP C360 machines running HP/UX with Intel-based RHEL boxes. This reduced the per-seat license costs while upgrading hardware to support more users.
This system in question runs Volpe's Enhanced Traffic Management System (aka "flow control") and is commonly seen on news stories about ATC as it has a very public-friendly display with national/state borders and little airplane symbols. For example, all the news stories on 9/11 that showed the aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean being rerouted were filming ETMS displays.
Re:careful of the source (Score:2)
Wait? Your confusing me?!
I think the point of the matter is who side you are on. Not personal experience or who funded whose studies.
Either you are for Microsoft or pro-Linux.
If you don't pick sides, your against both sides!
So are you a Micro
Playing Devil's Advocate (Score:5, Funny)
"The FAA's successful and impressive migration truly exemplifies the value, performance and security
of Red Hat Enterprise Linux,"
All the stories talks about is how they came in under budget. Another reason for saving 15 million
could be that someone simply budgeted too much money. Much like when your wife spends $200 on a pocket
book that normally cost $250, and then she tells you that she saved $50!.
D*mn women.. oh wait.. what was I talking about again?
Re:Playing Devil's Advocate (Score:2)
I guess that's why Microsoft never had an ad campaign telling everyone how they can "save -$300"...
Re:Playing Devil's Advocate (Score:2)
If you come in 15 million under budget, the budgeting committees are going to look at it, and say "Good job. Now we can give you less money next year".
In government spending, the goal is often to spend as much of your budget as possible, only going slightly over the original budgeted amount. This way, you get a slightly incresed budget the next year, and don't necessarily get blamed for over-spending. The only reward for coming in
Re:Playing Devil's Advocate (Score:2)
Re:Playing Devil's Advocate (Score:2)
This was back in the 80s when IBM was evil, OS/2 was going to be the next big thing, and 286s where fast and expensive.
Re:Playing Devil's Advocate (Score:2)
If you come in 15 million under budget, the budgeting committees are going to look at it, and say "Good job. Now we can give you less money next year".
This is why if a given organization has $15 million, they will spend $14.5 million on the actual project and as close to $500,000 as possible on office supplies, Aeron chairs, etc. so they can say that they need at least as much money next fiscal year. I work in the federal government, I see this all the time. I can't get training until August or September
Re:Playing Devil's Advocate (Score:2)
Just be lucky she didn't decide to 'save' $100 and buy two different colours.
to RedHat, but what FROM? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:to RedHat, but what FROM? (Score:2)
Re:What, like this one? (Score:2)
Come on, use your fricking brain. He uses the phrase "Red Hat Enterprise Linux" more than once in the so-called quote. I've been working with Redhat for a long time, and I've never heard anyone who knew their ass from a hole in the ground use the phrase "Enterprise Linux". You either say Redhat or Redhat Advanced Server depending on what you're actually using, or, if you don't know enough to even say that, you just say "R
Re:to RedHat, but what FROM? (Score:4, Informative)
By migrating from a costly UNIX platform to Red Hat Enterprise Linux on its workstations, servers and at the hub site, the FAA was able to eliminate costs and ineffective systems, while creating a scalable architecture that met their high-demand environment today and for the future.
So, pick one: Solaris, HPUX or AIX.
AIX is my guess (Score:2, Informative)
It's pretty well known amongst the compugeek-pilot community that the FAA had a boatload of stuff running on some pretty old RS6000 iron, with quite a bit of it still running on AIX 3.2.5 which was end-of-lifed by IBM like sometime last century.
So, from your three guesses... I'd have to say that the first two don't count
This is mostly for their "business" systems, not the national airspace operations (the flightplan and radar systems) which are being migrated to a Linu
Sorry chum , wrong answer (Score:2)
Re:to RedHat, but what FROM? (Score:2)
Talk about a
Back about 12 or 13 years ago, the company I was working for won
a bid for new Tektronix Phaser color wax printers for capturing
screen images from the computers used in the FAA's training
center at FAA HQ in Washington, DC.
The front-end (w/User Interface and Display) were Apollo work-
stations running some flavor of unix, while the back-end processors
were DEC MicroVAXs, tied into real and canned radar data. The cable
runs were chock-full of (
Does not sound like Windows (Score:3, Insightful)
So far many/most large to-Linux migrations have been from some Unix-like or big-iron OS. Very few have been from-Microsoft.
Re:Does not sound like Windows (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:to RedHat, but what FROM? (Score:2, Informative)
Correct, as TFA *does* state:
> By migrating from a costly UNIX platform to Red Hat Enterprise Linux on its workstations, servers and at the hub site, the FAA was able to eliminate costs and ineffective systems, while creating a scalable architecture that met their high-demand environment today and for the future.
The only question is, *which* UNIX did the FAA drop? Though I suppose it doesn't matter that much now....
Re:to RedHat, but what FROM? (Score:2)
/.'ed (Score:2)
talk about efficiency!
anyone have the google cache version handy?
Not a surprise... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Not a surprise... (Score:2)
And they moved from? (Score:2)
Re:And they moved from? (Score:2)
Re:And they moved from? (Score:2)
Re:And they moved from? (Score:2)
RTFA, specifically paragraph 4:
"By migrating from a costly crayon, construction-paper, scissors, and Elmer's glue-based platform to Red Hat Enterprise Linux on its workstations, servers and at the hub site, the FAA was able to eliminate costs and ineffective systems, while creating a scalable architecture that met their high-demand environment today and for the future."
I might have made
Migrating from ... (Score:3, Informative)
Quite possibly this is from IBM (Aix) to IBM (Redhat). More likely is that it is another kick in the crotch for Sun.
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not a big victory (Score:2)
Really OOOOOLD systems (Score:2)
Maybe they are finally getting something going?
Re:Really OOOOOLD systems (Score:2)
Re:Really OOOOOLD systems (Score:3, Informative)
They had nowhere to go but up (Score:2, Informative)
originally contracted to IBM and EDS in 1981 and still not deployed? Taxpayers have spent about $40 billion on that one, with still
very little to show for it.
A brief history of FAA competence. Not the best source, but then the government isn't good about revealing its failures.
http://www.baselinemag.com/print_article2/0,1217,a =25163,00.asp [baselinemag.com]
Re:Really OOOOOLD systems (Score:2)
center at FAA HQ in Washington, DC (unknown), then the equipment wasn't just
OLD, it was ANTIQUE!
I worked for a contractor installing new color printers there 12 or 13 years ago,
and their equipment consisted of HP Apollo (unix) workstation front-ends tied
to DEC MicroVAX 400's (DEC unix) via DECNet. HIPPI(sp?) high speed interfaces
linked the MicroVAXs to the live & canned radar data.
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:new Linux ad campaign (Score:2)
They ported Linux to their System 360s? (Score:2)
http://www.itworld.com/Comp/1369/LWD000606S390/ [itworld.com]
I thought the problem was old, tube-based hardware in the TRACONS and elsewhere always going blinky. Software would be the least of their worries.
ETMS System (Score:5, Informative)
FAA Windows Machine "Nearly Perfect" (Score:2, Interesting)
Submitted by doc on Wed, 09/22/2004 - 19:02.
On Tuesday, September 14, something went wrong at the FAA's regional center that controls high altitude air traffic over Southern California and much of the southwest U.S. Two days later, this Associated Press story (carried here on MSNBC) summarized the problem in its opening sentence: "Failure to perform a routine maintenance check caused the shutdown of an air traffic communications syste
Re:FAA Windows Machine "Nearly Perfect" (Score:2, Informative)
Windows has a lot of other timer mechanisms built into it. The performance counters in particular have a significantly higher degree of fidelity, generally in the tens of mic
But... (Score:2, Offtopic)
Biased article. (Score:2, Funny)
In other news (Score:2)
In other news, Microsoft and Sun announced the joint purchase of a former Soviet manufacturer of ground-to-air missiles...
Learn something new... (Score:3, Funny)
WTF!!! (Score:2)
I emailed Caroline Kazmierski ckazmier@redhat.com (Score:3, Informative)
That said, it's still not a migration from Unix to Microsoft, but still...
Anecdote... (Score:4, Funny)
Oooh! (Score:3, Funny)
You ain't got no facts, Bill! We got the facts!
Linux cannibalizing unix (Score:2)
"By migrating from a costly UNIX platform to Red Hat Enterprise Linux on its workstations, servers and at the hub site,"
How exactly is this being read as a blow to microsoft? Linux is killing off the Unix market.
Re:Nice point for linux arguments: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Nice point for linux arguments: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Nice point for linux arguments: (Score:2)
Re:Nice point for linux arguments: (Score:2)
Linux does keep them in the sky... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Nice point for linux arguments: (Score:3, Insightful)
I've flown for hours at a time without talking to the FAA, and my plane didn't fall out of the sky. The FAA doesn't keep the planes from falling out of the sky, they keep them from hitting each other, and *then* falling out of the sky. And even then they're barely up to the job.
But this isn't that system. I'm not sure, but I think this is the system that gives airlines ground holds to keep them from spending too much time in holding patterns.
Re:Nice point for linux arguments: (Score:3, Funny)
If you need a reminder who the FAA is: they keep the planes from falling out of the sky.
If you've ever known or talked with an amateur pilot, you would know this is not what the FAA does. Instead, they make sure that instead of driving 4 hours along the highway, you spend 3 hours filling out paperwork and a flight plan, then 1 hour flying to get to the same destination.
Re:Nice point for linux arguments: (Score:2)
Re:More of these types of success stories (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:More of these types of success stories (Score:2, Insightful)
I hope Linus isn't free-as-in-beer.
Re:More of these types of success stories (Score:2)
Re:More of these types of success stories (Score:3, Informative)
Well that rules out a migration from Solaris since RedHat would have had no problem naming Sun as the vendor they replaced.
HP-UX they might be a bit quiet about since their close to HP and definately if it was AIX RedHat wouldn't want to antagonize IBM.
It looks like it was HP-UX ased on this snippet from http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:9WrQ3EspDRwJ: w ww.academy.faa.gov/ama200/S20Catalog.doc+faa+%22tr affic+flow+management+infrastructure%22+ibm&hl=en& gl=us&ct=clnk [72.14.203.104]
Re:More of these types of success stories (Score:2)
2. Not at all.
If you'd RTFA (actually, a marketing press release), you'd see that Microsoft was mentioned -zero- times because the migration was from "a costly UNIX platform".
C'mon kids, let's put some more effort into the trolls, at least.
Re:About time (Score:2)
How much did redhat charge them in licensing cost?
Re:About time (Score:2)
It is a win all the way around.
Re:About time (Score:2)
Yes, linux based systems can have security holes like any other OS. My concern is how much redhat charges for a license. Its often more expensive than buying Windows if you don't need a lot of CALs.
And no I'm not a big Microsoft nut, I have 1 machine of 7 in my home with windows. Everythi
Re:About time (Score:2)
Ummm... Wouldn't they also need Windows experts working for them if they used Windows? That is why the went with Linux. They where replacing Unix systems so I would guess they already had Unix experts in house.
From a TCO point of view in a server environment where you already have Unix in ho
Re:About time (Score:2)
Re:About time (Score:2)
Red Hat is one distribution of Linux. I have used CentOS which is based on Red Hat enterprise. While I am no fan of RPM, yum is just about as easy to use as apt-get. I have not found it clumsy, fragile, or unfriendly to use. I actually find it a much better system for servers than SuSE which I do find fragile and clumsy.
What would you say is better? Slackware? Debian? Ubuntu? Suse? Gentoo? Or one of the BSDs?
Re:About time (Score:2)
From my perspective: A BSD is easier to upgrade, easier to install software on, and has a more friendly community. That would make it better to me than a linux distro. Another thing I like about BSDs is the API doesn't change as much and time doesn't go backwards. (see linux 2.6.16 changelog)
For desktops, Redhat, Fedora, Ubuntu or Suse are probably good choices (well ubuntu has that broken dhcp client...). Gentoo would be good if you wanted something very custom I suppose. Someone in my o
Re:About time (Score:2)
bsodsim (Score:2)
Can always migrate back (Score:2)
OTOH, it does seem distressingly easy to write code that will run only on Linux.