Meanwhile, the University of California at Berkeley, is working on OceanStore, a network-free file system made up of 10 billion computers with 100 billion TB of data, Bolosky says. The Defense Research Projects Agency, IBM, and EMC are backing OceanStore. Using a laptop equipped with a wireless card, students and faculty can access the network from one of 48 access points across campus. Officials say the new system will complement, not replace, the school's existing network. University officials decided to build the new network to assist its graduate students in preparation for future employment.
Students can purchase laptops and wireless cards directly from the university.
The open source Linux operating system continues to gain followers in both the business and academic communities. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign officials announced that the institute would soon introduce 600 IBM computers running Linux. Meanwhile, Kemper Insurance reports that its Web site has yet to go down since the installation of a Linux operating system. Linux proponents say the software, created by Linus Torvalds 10 years ago, is very cost-effective, because users do not have to pay licensing fees. Also, because the code is open to all, users can modify it to fit their specific needs and can also catch bugs that may have gotten past the original developers.