[cobalt-users] New Cobalt Product line on the horizon?

["Jim O'Regan" <jim@xxxxxxx>]

I've heard from two sources that SUN has had recent discussions with a
small company concerning a new version of the Cobalt product line.  So
far these are just talks, and would included beefed-up Qubes and Raqs
focusing on fewer services per box and higher horse power.

As I understand, the concept would be a GUI running OS-independent
software (I'd imagine to have the ability to use either Linux or Solaris).
The end-user would unpack their blue box and go through the setup
(same as they do now) except they'd pick the individual services for that
particular machine, and only those services would show up in the control
panel in the GUI.

For example, if an ISP wants a stand-alone DNS server, all that would show
up in the control panel would be the DNS controls (along with the backup,
restore, network settings, etc.).  If you want an "everything" box, all
services would show up, just as they do now in the Qubes, Raq4's, 550's,
etc.  These services then can be started and stopped as desired.

I was told that the idea would be to have multiple machines running few
services with a 1 for N spare sitting by on warm stand-by.  If a machine
goes down, the spare detects (probably using pulse or something like that)
the dead box and netboots, loads the backup from another Raq, takes the
place of the down machine, and notifies the Sys-Admin.

There were several other applications outlined, but those were the details
that stick in my mind.  I decided to mention it here on the list since the
list is currently in question... maybe SUN could donate one of these new
Raq's (Raq 6 maybe?) to the cause to host the list.  Better yet, maybe
they could donate four:  One to host the list, one to be a spamfilter, one
to be a backup server, and one to be the spare... neat proof of concept
anyway...

I think the concept of working with the small company (didn't hear HOW
small it was) is to keep the project focused and cost-controlled.  If
things look good, the Cobalt line could then be brought back in house.

Once again, these are only rumors, but I did hear the same info from two
different sources.  Sounds interesting...

Jim O'Regan