E*Trade moves to Linux servers

[Warren Togami]

http://news.com.com/2100-1017-827366.html

E*Trade announced Thursday that it is the latest company to jump on the
Linux bandwagon.
The online brokerage is moving its computer systems over to IBM servers that
run the operating system. In a statement, E*Trade cited cost savings and
performance as reasons for switching to Linux.

E*Trade's and IBM's representatives did not immediately return calls seeking
comment.



At the LinuxWorld conference in New York on Monday, IBM trotted out several
new customers of its Linux systems, including clothing retailer L.L. Bean
and financial services giant Salomon Smith Barney. The customers, several of
which are running Linux on IBM mainframes, touted the operating system for
its performance.

IBM made a $1 billion investment in Linux last year, developing and
promoting the operating system. The company said it has recouped nearly all
of the investment.

E*Trade is replacing a number of its middleware servers based on Sun Solaris
with IBM xSeries Intel servers running Linux, said Bill Zeitler, senior vice
president and group executive of IBM's server group in a speech at
LinuxWorld. Zeitler said the new system would triple the number of customers
E*Trade's systems can handle at any one time.

E*Trade did not say in its statement how many servers it is replacing. The
company also did not say how much it is investing in the new system.