IBM pushes Linux harder than the rest

October 2000 could go down in history as the month IBM went Turbo.

IBM recently announced it will support TurboLinux on its entire rebranded eServer line, from entry-level PC boxes to full-blown mainframes. It also announced TurboLinux support for several of its key enterprise application and database products.

Earlier this month, IBM did away with its confusing naming schemes for its array of PC-based, midlevel and high-end server products; RS/6000, S/390, AS/400 and Netfinity are gone. Taking their places are the pServer, zServer, iServer and xServer, respectively. Though the names have changed, Linux (TurboLinux, that is) remains a consistent technology associated with each new server line.

IBM, along with other major PC server vendors, has gone full steam ahead into the Linux server market since the beginning of the year, offering TurboLinux - as well as Red Hat Linux, Caldera and SuSE - on its Intel-based Netfinity line, and now xServer. The company continues to stress these four Linux offerings as premier operating systems in the Intel-based xServer product line. Additionally, IBM made news recently when it announced that it was developing a version of Linux to run on its S/390 - now zServer - line of mainframes.

Shortly after its server rebranding announcement a few weeks ago, the company went one step further with Linux, announcing that TurboLinux would be available on all of the new eServer product lines. This means that users can now get Linux support on four different hardware architectures from IBM.

The obscure YellowDog distribution of Linux for the PowerPC chip has been available for some time, and is said to run on IBM's RS/6000. Despite this, it was not fully supported by IBM's high-powered, PowerPC -based RS/6000 servers (although the company did provide instructions on how to install YellowDog Linux on the RS/6000). Now renamed the pServer, the former RS/6000s will be available with TurboLinux for large-scale enterprise serving and supercomputing functions.

What is entirely new here is the availability of TurboLinux on IBM's AS/400 midrange servers - a platform where no other Linux distribution has ventured. Some analysts have predicted a slow death for the AS/400, due in part to a declining base of IT professionals with AS/400 administration and programming skills. The availability of TurboLinux on this well-entrenched platform could breath new life into the AS/400. Midsized enterprises now have an alternative database server platform besides Unix or Windows NT to run supply-chain management or enterprise resource planning applications.

IBM did stick slightly to its old habit of building proprietary operating systems with the release of its xOS, a new 64-bit operating system released to run on its mainframe-class zSerer products. However, there is a Linux angle here as well. The company has engineered the new operating system to run Linux applications. IBM's move may prove sound, by opening up software development on its mainframe platform to Linux programmers (i.e., the open source community). This could help spur the number of new enterprise applications available for the zServer.

In addition to the marriage of TurboLinux with its entire server line, IBM also announced TurboLinux compatibility for several of its popular enterprise applications, including its WebSphere application server, Lotus Domino groupware product and its DB2 Universal Database product.

"No one was ever fired for buying IBM" is an old saying in the corporate computing ranks. With Big Blue and Linux now so closely intertwined, it seems the word "IBM" in that IT adage could soon substituted with "Linux."

Phil Hochmuth is a Network World Senior Writer and a former systems integrator. You can reach him at phochmut@nww.com.

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