NEC Solutions America Inc. and Stratus Technologies Inc. are looking to Linux as a way to expand the reach of their respective fault-tolerant servers.

To date, telecommunications companies and other enterprises have deployed the open-source operating system on NEC's high-availability systems for such front-end duties as payment processing and Web serving. But, as businesses begin to adopt Linux for more heavy-duty back-end applications, both companies expect demand for Linux on their systems to build.

NEC's low-end Express5800/320La system has supported Linux in the United States for nine months. But officials of the Sacramento, Calif., company said NEC next quarter will extend that support to its high-end 320Lb. Both systems currently run Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000, and the 320Lb also runs .Net.

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