Novell announced the availability of SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, enabling customers to realize the benefits of Linux for real-time applications. SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time from Novell adds real-time technology from Concurrent Computer Corporation to the flexible and scalable SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 platform. As a result, customers see lower costs with predictable performance in time-critical environments.

"Many organizations depend on computing speed and dependability to compete effectively," said Carlos Montero-Luque, vice president of product management for Open Platform Solutions at Novell. "With SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, we are giving them the improved performance and lower costs of Linux along with the deterministic response and predictable quality of service their businesses demand. Backed up by Novell's vast ecosystem of services and support, customers can be confident that this real-time solution will enable them to serve their customers effectively even as it improves their bottom line."

SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time offers support for 32-bit and 64-bit processor architectures (including AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon), predictable interrupt response time of less than 30 microseconds, high-resolution timer support for enhanced scheduling, user-level control of simultaneous multithreading, and processor shielding. The proven real-time technology eliminates spikes in latency, ensuring consistent performance and stability. The solution is already being used in trading floor and market data servers in financial services, advanced imaging in patient healthcare, and enterprise data centers with time-critical requirements.

Gary Beerman, Concurrent director of real-time marketing, said, "The combination of Novell's robust Linux support organization and Concurrent's established real-time software makes this a compelling product offering applicable to multiple market verticals. With SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, customers can now optimize data center workloads to gain real competitive advantages. We are excited to be working with Novell in bringing this superior technology solution to enterprise customers around the globe."

SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time has set several new performance benchmarks. In tests with Wombat Financial Software, customers were able to achieve aggregate simultaneous publishing rates of 200,000 messages per second from the feed handler, which is roughly twice the rates generated by any other data feed product in the market today.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time also set a new record for query response time with the Ingres database. In tests performed at the Ingres Performance Center, the average response time of SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time was one- third that of a competing standard Linux distribution. This test simulated 16 threads of complicated queries hitting the Ingres database. With the CPU shielding in SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time, no other system activity can interrupt the database thread, so the queries finish more quickly than in an unshielded environment.