When using the word 'Linux' in a story, the author carries a significant risk of being flamed by members of the ultra-radical wing of the open source movement for the eradication of all commercially produced software.

Apart from this rather juvenile reaction, there is much to be reported on the infiltration of Linux into the very commercial world of high street business.

The latest of several good news stories sees fashion house Tommy Hilfiger Corporation mounting the Linux horse for its charge into the world of ebusiness.

Hilfiger is a fast moving company delivering a range of men's and women's gear and fragrances targeted at young, high spending, fashion conscious individuals.

In the course of its daily business, the company recognised a requirement for the speciality retailers which sell Hilfiger merchandise to have access to product information such as available inventory in real time.

Equally, the retailers wanted to be able to place and track orders on core products and more seasonal apparel.

Hilfiger has now taken the decision to build an e-infrastructure capable of delivering services to meet these ever expanding requirements.

The company has selected a range of technologies from IT infrastructure giant IBM and its partner eOneGroup, which specialises in ecommerce and integration, and has elected to use Linux at the heart of the solution.

Using products and services from these companies, Hilfiger will implement a new business-to-business portal giving access to its systems to speciality retailers.

It will also have a business-to-plant website linking the companies' worldwide production facilities to speed design-to-product times and reduce costs, and a virtual employee store allowing Hilfiger staff to shop around the clock on the net.

Overall, the web infrastructure will use IBM eServer xSeries servers running Linux to handle the web transactions, and these will be integrated with IBM eServer iSeries machines running Java linking to existing backend wholesale and warehouse management systems.

This is another illustration that Linux is becoming more and more of a mainstream, commercially acceptable platform and less of a propeller head toy.

The act of selecting an infrastructure platform is as much a leap of faith as it is a rational, intellectual decision.

The selection of Linux as a cornerstone technology in a very commercially sensitive environment is another sign of the growing acceptance of the Penguin by real business.

With companies such as IBM, Hewlett Packard and many of the Linux vendors now supplying effective Linux solutions that address key business issues, open source is certainly moving forward.

What can Santa possibly bring the Penguin this year apart from more fame, glory and money?