For the Federal Aviation Administration, Linux could possibly play an important role in the future, depending on the results of a testbed project being carried out at the FAA's Atlantic City Technical Center in New Jersey, according to computer specialist Craig Gerace.
For the FAA, he said, the promise of Linux includes an all-important reduction in costs over its existing Unix-based LynxOS, which runs the center's flight tracking backbone for a 64-mile radius. Linux would allow easier portability of applications and easier network driver availability, he said.
And Linux could increase the system's backbone from an existing 10MB network to a Gigabit network, which would result in an increase in capacity and performance at less cost.
"You've got to move with the times," Gerace said. "With the skies getting more full than ever, you've got to expand."
Since applications used by the center have already been cross-compiled for Linux and are running on the testbed -- a PowerPC system operating alongside the existing LynxOS system to monitor the performance, stability and reliability of Linux -- a future transition would be simple. (The testbed concept was born two years ago and will continue for another two years.)
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