[luau] IBM Clinches Government Security Certification for Linux - Short Full Article

[Michael_Bishop/FARRINCS/HIDOE at notes.k12.hi.us]

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) and Linux (news -
web sites) distributor SuSE said on Tuesday that they received the highest
level of security evaluation used by governments when deciding to use
software in their organizations.

Linux, running on IBM computers using Intel Corp.'s (Nasdaq:INTC - news)
chips, received the Common Criteria certification, a global standard for
security features and capabilities of information technology products, IBM
and SuSE said.

Up to now, few in the Linux community had sought the certification because
of the time, cost and effort involved, said Anne Altman, who manages IBM's
$1.6 billion business with the federal government.

"As recently as three years ago Linux was not a household name," Altman
told Reuters, "Today, Linux is growing at a tremendous clip with the
federal government and we really aimed to deliver a robust security
classification for Linux."

The U.S. government and its various agencies, which use a variety of
software, use the standards set out in the Common Criteria certification to
determine the security of the products it adopts.

IBM's Altman said the certification was a sign that Linux was maturing into
a software standard that could be adopted more widely. IBM said that
industry analysts are expecting the Linux market to grow from $2 billion to
more than $5 billion in 2006.