Just-in-time Linux

Almost from the start of launching his managed services provider business about eight years ago, Matthew Porter has been a big-time Linux proponent. Porter, who is founder and CEO of Contegix, a St. Louis-based company, currently uses Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL 5) to run the company. “From a technical perspective, Red Hat has been a good fit for us,” Porter said. Some of Contegix’s customers run versions of RHEL 3 and RHEL 4, and Porter likes the flexibility of the OS. “The security updates and the ability to “back port” security fixes – to port them to the version you’re on – work well for our business.”

As a managed services provider, Contegix’s use of software fluctuates from month to month, and Porter says that Red Hat’s licensing terms are also a good fit for his business. “Red Hat is one of the companies that truly gets what a hosting company is all about,” he said. “We pay a monthly subscription that changes on a month-to-month basis depending on our business.” Porter went on to say that he looked into Novell’s SUSE, but since “Novell offered us the same traditional license since the Netware days,” Contegix opted for Red Hat. “I think the licensing with Red Hat is really the epitome of just-in-time software,” Porter said.