Stratus throws Linux-based T party

Firm launches ftServer T Series, aimed at VoIP market

Fault-tolerant system supplier Stratus will launch a Linux-based system aimed at the voice over IP (VoIP) market later this month.

The ftServer T Series is based on Intel Xeon processors and Stratus's fault-tolerant version of Linux. As with its other systems, the firm is guaranteeing better than 99.999 per cent uptime.

The T Series marks the return of Stratus to the telecoms market, which it quit four years ago. Last year, the company bought back its telecoms business. David Laurello, chief executive of Stratus, believes the VoIP market has great growth potential for suppliers of fault-tolerant systems.

"These networks have one definite requirement. They have to be 24/7. They have to work. We talk about mission-critical but this is career-critical," he said.

In September the company will also be launching a low-end product, ftServer 2300. "In volume it will be priced below $10,000," Laurello said. "This puts us in at a price point that no fault-tolerant company has been in."

This would also make the system channel-friendly, he added.

Distributor Crane Telecom launched its own business last year, called Anikti, providing Intel-based servers for telecoms applications.

"The voice market is moving towards generic standards," said Simon Brough, product marketing manager at Crane. "More and more products - code - will be made to work to standards, so the market will move to platforms to run the code on.

"As we see it, call control is an enterprise sell at the moment, and the activity will be in SMEs when it comes to applications running on platforms."

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