SAN FRANCISCO - Systems vendors used the LinuxWorld Conference & Expo to show a deepening commitment to community-developed software, a trend that should help alleviate IT managers' concerns about where they will find corporate support for Linux or open source deployments (complete LinuxWorld coverage ).

"Finally, HP and IBM and the like are coming at it from the right direction," says Al Tobey, senior Unix engineer at Priority Health in Grand Rapids, Mich. "They're starting to see the revenue stream show up on their financials and they're saying, 'We need to do this from the top down.'"

The range of announcements at the show last week - which drew more than 11,400 attendees and a record 200 exhibitors - included expanded support for open source middleware, better security for Linux, virtualization and grid technology, management and configuration tools for integrated environments, and contributions to open source community efforts from commercial software vendors.

"All of these vendors are talking about integrating open source with commercial products," says Jean Bozman, an analyst at IDC. "It's the first time I've heard this much talk about that at the show."

Vendors are looking at how open source and Linux fit into the bigger corporate network picture as customers begin demanding more open source support for business projects, she says.

"It's no longer about looking at one platform," she says. "It's about looking at the network. There are lots of different parts across the network that have to fit in. They're getting their arms around the bigger part of the open source solution."

IBM, for example, announced a marked shift in its Linux strategy by focusing on Linux as part of technology packages aimed at solving specific business problems, rather than selling the isolated operating system simply as an inexpensive alternative to infrastructure.

The market has evolved beyond simple uses of Linux on the edge of the network or for server consolidation, says Steve Mills, senior vice president of IBM's software group. "It's now more about supporting business applications."

IBM's embrace of Linux and open source went even further, including the announcement that Big Blue would provide support for the Apache Software Foundation's free Geronimo application server. IBM acquired Gluecode Software , which built its application server on the Geronimo code, in May.