Apple Inc (AAPL)

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Navy to draft Linux-powered Macs

http://news.com.com/2100-1040_3-5060885.html

A company that specializes in running Linux on Macs said Wednesday that it has landed a deal to supply the U.S. Navy with 260 Apple Xserve servers.

Terra Soft Solutions said the machines will be used as part of a sonar imaging system being built for the Navy by defense contractor Lockheed Martin. Although the machines are Apple's servers, they will be running Terra Soft's Yellow Dog Linux operating system rather than the Mac OS. Terra Soft is one of a handful of Linux companies that is authorized to sell Apple gear.

"This brings to fruition two years of effort with an intense recent six months of research, coordination, prototype development and testing," Terra Soft CEO Kai Staats said in a statement.

An Apple representative was not immediately available for comment.

Joe Fanto, Lockheed Martin's lead project engineer representative, said that the Terra Soft approach "provides an optimal balance of open-source flexibility, AltiVec-enhanced performance, and community support."

Terra Soft said the 260 servers ordered by Lockheed Martin will be delivered by the end of October. The company claimed it is the largest sale of Xserves by an Apple retailer. Apple introduced the Xserve, its first rack-mounted server, in May 2002.