We're grateful to Sam Ockman, CEO of Penguin Computing for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions.

Mr. Ockman founded Penguin Computing in June 1998. His was the first hardware company to produce systems with only Linux inside.

Linux Online: In today's corporate world, most successful companies' actions revolve around their mission statement. Your company's statement is "To deliver the world's most reliable Linux systems." How does Penguin Computing go about that exactly?

Sam Ockman: Reliability is a function of many things, including engineering, testing and integration. It starts with engineering. We combine ours with that of the top-tier companies we choose as partners, such as Red Hat and Oracle.

We've pioneered technologies for reliability under Linux. For example, we were one of the first companies to do complex RAID systems. We were also the first to offer hot-swap power supplies across almost all our product line.

Penguin Computing also works very carefully to make sure every component used in our systems lives up to our high reliability standards. Representative samples of our computers are put through just about every test one can think of. And each computer receives three days of complex automated testing before it is shipped to the customer.

And we're working on next-generation reliability advancements in our labs. For example, under the standard Linux kernel, if there is a single bit ECC memory error, the error will be corrected, but the user will never know about it. But we're working to make it so that should a correctable error occur, not only is it corrected, but we also can automatically arrange to send a technician to replace the DIMM where the error occurred.

We're doing similar things with hard drives using S.M.A.R.T. technology.

RAID was just step one. Now we're getting to where we can predict many impending hard-drive failures, sometimes up to two weeks before the hard drive fails.

Linux Online: Does Sam Ockman have a mission statement for himself?

Sam Ockman: My mission is to ensure that Penguin Computing's mission--to build the world's most reliable Linux systems--is realized for every single Penguin Computing customer.

Linux Online: Your company's website describes you as "a true visionary". Most visionaries paint a big picture and then have the talent to gather both human and technical resources to move toward their vision. What's your "big picture" for Linux, assuming of course that you agree with my assessment of what a visionary does.

Sam Ockman: My vision for Linux is borrowed from Linus Torvalds. Three years ago Linus said his vision for Linux was world domination-in five years the server, ten years the desktop. That means Linux has two years left for world domination on the server and seven on the desktop.

My vision for Penguin Computing is similar. And as far as I can tell we are ahead when it comes to metrics. When I started the company I felt that Linux was ready to compete with traditional flavors of UNIX, such as Solaris, AIX, and IRIX in the server arena. I felt the only thing that was missing was a company that would focus on the server market and fully commit itself-from vision to product development to marketing-to Linux, just as Sun, IBM or SGI do with their respective operating systems.

Linux Online: You wrote a well-received article about "evangelizing" Linux to the business community. How's the "gospel according to Linux" being received so far?

Sam Ockman: We find that when we're deployed in a Fortune 2000 company, it usually comes through the Web site division, which is to be expected because our systems are designed for Internet serving.

Usually the Web site part of a company is given a lot of autonomy. CIOs are so busy with desktops, databases, and file and print servers that they're happy to let the Web side of the company be fairly autonomous as long as they do a good job.

But we're an Internet server company, so we play in all areas of the Internet server market, such as database serving.

Linux Online: If we compare Linux to a religion, let's say, like early Christians against the Roman Empire (Linux are the early Christians and I think we all know who the Roman empire is), don't you think that Linux needs a "Pope", so to speak? The Romans have their emperor but maybe we don't have our "rock" to build the church on.

Sam Ockman: I think we have plenty of great spokespeople: Linus, Richard Stallman, Bruce Perens, Bob Young, Eric Raymond - the list goes on and on. I get caught up in the religious analogies as much as anyone else, but what we're really building on is the source code. We happen to have some very charismatic leaders, but in the end it all comes down to the quality of the code.

Linux Online: Everybody knows that you're one of the most vocal Open Source advocates in the industry. Do you think you and other advocates of Open Source are getting your message across to the mainstream press?

Sam Ockman: More and more we are.

Linux Online: You also co-wrote a book about Open Source. Did you consider the experience rewarding? Do you plan on writing another book?

Sam Ockman: Co-editing the book "Open Sources: Voices From the Open Source Revolution" was a great experience. What I liked about the whole concept was that it really allowed Open Source leaders to talk about what was important to them.

But writing a book is clearly a full-time endeavor. I'm too busy with Penguin Computing to work on another book for quite a long time.

Linux Online: What do Linux and Open Source have to offer small business? Obviously the low-cost alternative that Linux offers is attractive, but what are they to do when they just plain can't make some of this stuff work? Who do they turn to?

Sam Ockman: Small businesses actually have more options for help when it comes to Linux than they do with any other system. There are thousands of Web sites that deal with each and every aspect of Linux; a quick search with Google can usually turn up the answer to almost any problem. If that doesn't work, one can ask for help on Usenet. By posting a question one will usually get a quick response.

On the commercial side, Penguin Computing stands completely behind our products. We completely support both the hardware and the software. By knowing everything about the hardware and the software we can provide a higher level support than any other company. We become our customers' business partner.

Certainly, from a broader perspective, if you install Linux on your own, companies like Red Hat will provide technical support. LinuxCare will do both support and professional services. There are also new companies like Mission Critical Linux that specialize in supporting Linux in the enterprise.

Linux Online: Do you think that Linux and Open Source in the end might have to struggle against the fact that the normal, everyday small business might have to spend a lot of money in consulting and support fees?

Sam Ockman: I think that today Linux and Open Source products are clearly easier and cheaper to deploy than traditional UNIX products. Small businesses-Mom and Pop operations-aren't really our core market; we are focused primarily on dot coms and the Web/dot-com divisions of the Fortune 2000. These companies almost always have significant UNIX skills in house, although they often rely on us to augment those skills.

But there are a lot of projects that will make things easier for small businesses. Samba has a number of GUI tools, such as SWAT. Covalent has a GUI tool they are working on for Apache configuration.

Linux Online: Penguin Computing is a privately held company at present. Any plans to take it public in the near future?

Sam Ockman: Nothing that I can talk about at this time.

Linux Online: Is there anything to be learned from the famous Linux IPOs like Red Hat and VALinux?

Sam Ockman: When Red Hat went public, it was priced at $14 a share but ended the day at more than $52 a share. Today, Red Hat is trading at about $24. If it had gone out the door at $14 and slowly risen to $24 - a 71 percent increase- it would have been seen as a big success. And that's really what I think it should be seen as- a success.

Linux Online: Thomas Edison used to complain that as his companies prospered, his time got eaten up by speaking engagements, awards ceremonies and general administrative duties. He was essentially and R and D man. You come from a software development background; how do you make time for your R and D work and still function as a CEO?

Sam Ockman: I can certainly understand what Thomas Edison meant. I'm not as involved with research and development as I once was. If anything, these days I operate more as a sounding board for the engineers at Penguin Computing.

Linux Online: When you're not running your successful company, preaching Open Source and generally getting out the Linux message, what do you do in your spare time?

Sam Ockman: I spend most of my time reading, swimming, and collecting music. I also enjoy cooking.

You can visit Penguin Computing's company website at http://www.penguincomputing.com