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Jun. 8, 2010

Canonical's new Ubuntu Advantage service takes all of the various technical and legal support services for the company's Landscape system management tool which is now updated to the 1.5 release following the launch of Ubuntu 10.04 Long Term Support.

Neil Levine, v.p. of corporate services at Canonical says "it has become clear that as the use of Linux and Ubuntu in the enterprise increases, that businesses are now using Ubuntu in more areas of business than before, including as a cloud platform."

He added "Ubuntu Advantage provides the set of Linux OS services that companies need to make Ubuntu a core part of their IT strategy. Flexible pricing and a choice of service levels means any business can realize what our customers already experience - that to optimize your Ubuntu deployment, engaging with the appropriate Canonical service is the easiest and fastest route to success."

Premium service engineer support, where Canonical gives you a dedicated support person on its staff, is optional. Server Advantage Essential costs $320 per machine per year, and offers 9x5 coverage.

The Standard edition of the Ubuntu Advantage package for servers adds support for virtualization and MS Windows integration, and customers can add on cloud support or the dedicated Landscape tool. Without those two optional elements, the Standard Edition costs $700 per machine per year and only has 9x5 coverage.

Adding the Standard Cloud add-on for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud costs an extra $350 per year. Ubuntu Advantage Server Advanced Edition adds in support for clustering and high availability and the custom package repository that Canonical has set up for Ubuntu. It costs $1,200 per year and has 24x7 coverage. Adding the Advanced Cloud add-on for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud costs an extra $600 per year per machine.

The desktop variant of the Ubuntu Advantage bundle comes in Standard and Advanced editions. The Standard variant puts together the hosted version of the Landscape tool with the IP lawsuit protection, knowledge base, and installation, application, and system administration support. It costs $105 per machine per year for 9x5 coverage.

Ubuntu Advantage is available for customers deploying either Ubuntu Server or Ubuntu Desktop editions. Within these two options, there are various levels of support, with prices rising as more features are added. Support terms are for either 9x5 business day or 24x7 support, as in the past. Canonical is offering different price bands for Ubuntu Advantage support based on the features covered, not just on the hours and speed of service.

Ubuntu Server Advantage comes in three flavors. The Essential edition includes Landscape Hosted Edition (the one that runs on Canonical's iron and manages your Ubuntu servers remotely) and Landscape Dedicated Server Edition is optional. It also includes Canonical's indemnification from intellectual property rights lawsuits, called the Ubuntu Assurance Program, which was sold separately, and access to the Ubuntu Server knowledge base (part of tech support for Ubuntu Server) and basic installation and application support.

The Advanced edition of Ubuntu Advantage Desktop adds in support for desktop virtualization and the open source development tool stack. It costs $165 per machine per year for 24x7 coverage. Both the Standard and Advanced editions of the Ubuntu Advantage Desktop package can optionally have the local Landscape tool and a premium support engineer dedicated to the account - for an extra fee, of course.

The prices for the services being offered under the new Ubuntu Advantage packaging are lower than the prices customers would have paid for a la carte services from Canonical, according to a company spokesperson.

A support contract for Ubuntu Server with 9x5 business hour support used to cost $750 per server per year, and a contract with 24x7 coverage used to cost $1,200; this included live human and email support coverage. A few years back, the 24x7 support cost $2,750 a year per server, so this price has come down.

Canonical's Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud stack layers on the Eucalyptus EC2-alike framework for managing KVM-based cloudy infrastructure.

Like Red Hat, there's no doubt that Canonical is a company that's in business to make money, and make money it does. It also is there to help support companies and organizations of all sizes better understand Linux and help them grow their businesses.

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Source: Canonical.

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