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Reuters releases Linux financial software

Financial information software from Reuters is now available for Intel-based servers from Hewlett-Packard running Red Hat's Linux, the companies plan to announce Monday.

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Financial information software from Reuters is now available for Intel-based servers from Hewlett-Packard running Red Hat's Linux, the companies plan to announce Monday.

The product, Reuters Market Data System, is the result of a collaboration announced in 2002. RMDS distributes market data such as trading orders or prices to financial firms such as those on Wall Street.

Financial services companies historically have been fond of Unix, the operating system that was the inspiration for Linux. Now IBM, Red Hat, Egenera and others are hoping to sell Linux computers as a less-expensive alternative. Morgan Stanley is among the more enthusiastic customers.

The RMDS software is certified to work with HP servers using Intel Xeon processors and running Red Hat's Advanced Server version of Linux.

Customers want the software to cut costs and speed operations, according to Peter Lankford, Reuters' head of real-time content management solutions. "Customers see RMDS on Linux as an important way to reduce their costs of operation, while improving operational efficiencies," he said in a statement.

Sun Microsystems has been the most popular Unix server seller among financial services companies. In response to customers' desires, the company has begun selling Linux systems using Sun's own version of Linux, but the company's top software sales executive said Sun doesn't plan to push Linux hard.