In Red Hat's shadow, a number of software companies in the area have embraced the open-source way. The trend has led some to think that maybe the Triangle should capitalize on its position as a center for this new software movement. Long a hotbed of Linux users, NCSU is instituting a formal strategy to embrace open-source software wherever it makes sense within its vast network. We're not excluding other possibilities. What it does say is that in our role as a science and technology engineering university, we want to teach diversity and we believe this is the best way to do it.
Techies love it because they can get in, tinker and tweak it to their liking.
Phil Emer, network operations manager, is thrilled with Averitt's decision because it's going to make his job easier. N.C. State runs, he'd need to hire 1,000 tech support people to really run them right. It's also good news for the fledgling OpenNMS.org, which suddenly has a big vote of confidence in its plan to build an open-source network management software. It's good timing for OpenNMS, which was in Silicon Valley on Friday meeting with potential VC and corporate investors.