HP Benefits from the Rise of Linux

For a long time, the dominant operating system in the high-endanimation and special effects world was Unix, or more specifically,Irix, the version of Unix used by Silicon Graphics, the leadingworkstation provider to the entertainment industry. Then about six orseven years ago, that all began to change as powerful new Windows-basedworkstations began encroaching on SGI territory. Suddenly, there weretwo viable operating systems competing for market share, and no one wassure which one would prevail.

Today, there’s a third contender for the operating systemthrone, and its name is Linux. Capable of running on industry standardhardware that’s less costly to buy and maintain than proprietary,Irix-based workstations, and more reliable to use than Windows, Linuxis beginning to capture the hearts and minds of the high-end animationand post facilities in a big way.

Proof of that popularity was evident in a survey taken at the recentVES Linux Summit II Conference held in June. The conference attractsfolks from such high profile animation and production facilities asDigital Domain, DreamWorks, ILM, and Pixar Animation Studios. Accordingto the survey, nearly 45% of the attendees said Linux is a viableoperating system for the desktop today, while another 45% said it wouldbe viable within six to 12 months. For renderfarm use, nearly 85% ofthe survey participants said Linux was viable today.

Moreover, 88% said they are already deploying Linux in theirfacilities, while another 65% said they are currently in the process ofporting applications to Linux. The number of facilities that areignoring Linux is zero percent.

While conference attendees were clearly in agreement over thepotential of Linux, they also agreed that one of Linux’s problemsis the lack of supported applications.

For Hewlett-Packard, as it turns out, that problem has been a hugeopportunity. HP has proved to be extremely aggressive in adopting theLinux operating system and working with software vendors to port theirapplications over to Linux.

“Linux has really played a big role in our ability topenetrate the animation market,” says Jeff Wood, HP’sproduct marketing manager for personal workstations. “We’vedone a great job getting into that market by offering a fullyintegrated, tested, and qualified Linux solution. We’ve beensupporting Linux in a full 3D solution for about a year, starting withour Visualize workstations. And our new x2000 and x4000 workstationssupport Linux as well.

“We’ve also worked very closely with key ISVs, such asAlias/Wavefront, Side Effects Software, Kaydara, and Softimage,”he says. “In fact, Softimage used us as their porting platform toport XSI over to Linux. That was a big win for us. And we are startingto see a lot of animation houses pick up our systems now.”

HP’s confidence in its Linux prowess appears to be justifiedby the results from that VES Linux Summit II survey. When asked whichvendor best understands Linux, HP wound up in a virtual tie for firstwith SGI and IBM, with Dell and Compaq lagging behind. And when askedwhich vendor had the best Linux desktop offerings, HP stood all alonein first in the opinion of the survey participants.
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