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![]() Linux delivers 20% better performance, Picklo says. | |
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DaimlerChrysler isn't the only major automaker taking advantage of the open-source operating system's cost and performance advantages. Ford Motor Co. has been using Linux clusters for computing-intensive tasks since June 2001. The world's second-largest carmaker started with a group of 32 Linux servers to run fluid dynamics tests. In April, it combined 64-bit HP Alpha servers running Red Hat Linux to do safety computations, which include virtual crash testing, says Vince Scarafino, Ford's manager of numerically intensive computing. The automaker says its cost savings exceed 40%.
DaimlerChrysler plans to move its fluid aerodynamics and combustion simulation apps to Linux clusters by the second quarter of next year, as the company continues to replace its Unix and mainframe servers. That should let it run more simulations earlier in the design process and spend less on actual crash tests.