Canonical's popular Ubuntu Linux distribution will get its second update of 2011 this month for both desktop and server editions. However it is the server edition that Canonical has made the biggest changes to by supporting ARM processors.
While Canonical has enjoyed considerable success on the desktop with Ubuntu, in the server market it is still behind rivals such as Red Hat and Suse with community led efforts such as Debian and CentOS also proving popular. However Canonical hopes to steal a march on all of its Linux competitors by announcing ARM support in Ubuntu Server 11.10.
Mark Baker, server product manager at Canonical, told The INQUIRER that the company's decision to deploy ARM processor support is part of the firm's desire to build awareness for long term support for the architecture. The idea is that when servers with ARM-based chips start entering the market, system administrator and management will look at Ubuntu and see support in several releases.
