Canonical announces availability of Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition

Canonical, the sponsor of Ubuntu, announced today that Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition is available to download from Thursday 23 April. Canonical offers assessment, deployment, migration, training and support services to ensure that companies can make the most of the cost-effective, powerful and reliable Ubuntu Server Edition platform.

Ubuntu Server Edition enables businesses to deploy and manage their common workloads – web, print, file, database and mail servers – more efficiently. Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition integrates the latest, stable Open Source applications from across the community, packaged and ready for users to deploy. New enhancements include improved virtualization with the latest KVM features, clustering support in Samba file server and easier mail server setup with out-of-the-box Dovecot-Postfix integration.

Canonical has also worked to extend the range of enabled servers for Ubuntu 9.04, with 45 of the most popular mid-range servers from IBM, Dell and Sun and HP tested in the Canonical labs.

In addition, Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition will preview Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC). Ubuntu is the first commercially-supported distribution to enable businesses to build cloud environments inside their firewalls. With Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition, organisations can explore the benefits of cloud computing without the data or security issues associated with moving data to an external cloud provider. Following a successful beta programme last year, Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04 will also be fully available on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

“Our ongoing commitment to increase productivity and efficiency savings with every release has seen more and more organisations deploying common workloads on Ubuntu-based server environments,” says Jane Silber, COO, Canonical. “We make it easier for companies to run larger systems more efficiently, a key benefit in financially-challenging times. Backed up by a full range of professional services, including support from Canonical, larger businesses will find Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04 to be the most cost-effective, easy-to-deploy server platform for their production environments.”

About 9.04 Ubuntu Server Edition

Ubuntu Server includes a range of new and updated features to boost efficiencies for system administrators running large systems in production environments.

New fully supported features:

• Extended hardware compatibility ensures easier deployment for users
• Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can now pre-install their own default first-boot configuration of Ubuntu Server Edition and replicate it across all their Ubuntu servers
• Ubuntu Server on Amazon EC2 helps businesses to deploy services to external clouds
• Virtualization updates, including support for nested virtualization, further improve infrastructure management efficiencies
• New mail server features include shared user authentication and enhanced spam protection
• Samba 3.3 provides extended cluster support for file serving and integrates with the latest Microsoft systems
• Enhanced integration between OpenChange and Microsoft Exchange encourages interoperability
• Suspend-and-Resume features deliver power-management improvements
• Security enhancements with Apparmor offer greater peace of mind

Previews

• The Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud uses an open source system known as Eucalyptus to enable a company to test, deploy and experiment with their own private, in-house cloud that matches the Amazon EC2 API
• Advanced Message Queue Protocol (AMQP) support brings the emerging standard for high-performance enterprise messaging to Ubuntu users through Rabbit MQ
• MySQL 5.1 is the latest release of the world’s most popular Open Source database server. Upgrade from the fully-supported 5.0 to 5.1 is possible now

Availability

Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition is available from 23 April 2009. It can be accessed in a number of ways:

• Visit www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu for a free download
• Visit shop.canonical.com to purchase a CD, flash drive or DVD
• Visit shipit.ubuntu.com to request a free CD

Professional Services, including support, can be also be purchased from www.canonical.com/services.

About Canonical Ltd

Canonical Ltd, the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu, is a global organisation headquartered in Europe committed to the development, distribution and support of open source software products and communities. World-class 24×7 commercial support for Ubuntu is available through Canonical’s global support team and partners. Since its launch in October 2004 Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions with millions of users around the world.

About Ubuntu

Since its launch in October 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most highly-regarded Linux distributions. With millions of users in homes, schools, businesses and governments around the world, Ubuntu is growing in popularity on both the server and the desktop. With the values of Open Source software at its core, Ubuntu costs nothing to download or update. Users are also actively encouraged to copy, reinstall, modify and share their Ubuntu software anytime, anywhere and with anyone. Visit www.canonical.com or www.ubuntu.com for more in