Red Hat rival Oracle announced on July 21 that it has acquired Ksplice, as reported by our sister site eWEEK. Oracle did not disclose terms of the deal to buy the privately held software company based in Cambridge, Mass., says the story. Founded in 2008, Ksplice makes hot-patching software that enables Linux administrators to perform system updates, bug fixes, and security patches without having to take a system offline. The company is said to have about 700 customers in a number of vertical segments. Ksplice code will be integrated into the Oracle Linux Premier Support package, but apparently will not be available for use with Oracle's enterprise Linux rivals. "The Oracle Linux Premier Support subscription applies [only] to Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel," Oracle said in a statement. "Oracle does not plan to support Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SUSE Enterprise Linux." According to Oracle, the company will be the only enterprise Linux provider that can offer zero downtime updates. Stated Ksplice CEO Jeff Arnold, "Ksplice's technology will be able to take Oracle's kernel updates and transform them into zero downtime updates that provide always-accessible systems with no reboot necessary. This results in improved system availability and security as well as reduced operational costs for the customer."