In May, IBM took the wraps off of its Power6 processor, rolling out systems based on the chip that Big Blue claimed was more powerful and less power hungry than any Power processor before. The chip offers better energy management and virtualization capabilities. I wrote a bit about the Power6 processor when it was first introduced. You can read that newsletter here.

Now IBM is taking the wraps off the software to go with the enhanced hardware. IBM last week announced what it says is its first open beta program for AIX. Enterprise users will have the chance to test out the latest version of IBM’s Unix operating system, AIX 6. Read Network World’s story here.

AIX 6, which will be generally available in the fourth quarter of this year, builds on the hardware capabilities of the Power6 chip. For example, it offers software-based virtualization technology called Workload Partitions for easier management of virtual images; the ability to move running virtual images between servers without having to restart the application, a feature called Live Application Mobility; and Role-Based Access Control for tighter security.

IBM says the new version of AIX also will be binary compatible with previous releases of AIX 5L, so applications running on older versions of AIX should migrate easily to the new platform. You can check out the binary compatibility here.

In addition, AIX 6 will run not only on Power6-based systems, but also on Power4-, Power5- and PowerPC 970-based boxes. Customers who need to support Linux applications can do so, using Advanced Power Virtualization to run native Red Hat Enterprise Linux or SUSE Linux Enterprise applications in Workload Partitions, or virtual images, alongside AIX-based applications.

The beta program is open to everyone. Get info on the AIX 6 beta program here.