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Big Blue gives green light to Linux
By Stephen Shankland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 16, 1999, 5:20 p.m. PT

IBM is in the midst of a company-wide adoption of Linux, lifting the
Unix-like technology to the status of more traditional operating
systems.

Responding to increasing customer demand by Fortune 500 companies and
other business clientele, the computer colossus is advancing its
global Linux strategy on several fronts. It is bringing the operating
system onto two computer lines, adding Linux support to its services
business, and porting its software to the relatively new operating
system, industry sources said.

"It's very clear we need to do something that gives us a global
offering for Linux," an IBM source said. "Part of what we're trying
to do here is help Linux become business as usual for business."

IBM plans to announce details of its Linux strategy at the LinuxWorld
conference beginning March 1. Regarding hardware, IBM is working on
bringing Linux to two separate server lines, its PowerPC-based
RS/6000 and its Intel-based Netfinity lines, industry sources said.
Although other developers have done most of the work of bringing
Linux to the PowerPC and Intel systems, IBM will help Linux
developers write the software needed to enable specific hardware to
run, sources said.

IBM will offer Linux systems on low-end RS/6000 machines aimed at the
academic market. For these machines, IBM will use the LinuxPPC
version of Linux that works on the PowerPC chip.

And on its Netfinity servers, IBM will put support for Red Hat's
distribution of Linux on par with more mainstream operating systems
such as Microsoft's Windows NT or Santa Cruz Operation's UnixWare, an
IBM source said. Although IBM leaves the job of installing the
operating system to resellers or customers, it handles hardware and
software technical support for the first 90 days, and Linux will be
folded into this model. In January, IBM said it was "aggressively"
evaluating Linux and was pilot-testing Linux systems with clients.
That strategy is moving ahead now with software and services being
added to the mix.

IBM has released a beta version of its DB2 database software for
Linux, will release a Linux version of its Lotus Domino and Notes
collaboration software, and supports the Apache Web server, which is
used on many Linux machines. In addition, IBM will work with software
companies to run their products on IBM Linux machines. Those systems
will be demonstrated at business shows and will fit in with IBM's
joint marketing programs. "Some of the big enterprise resource
planning vendors are starting to make noises about Linux," the source
said.

Another Red Hat win

This week, Red Hat is scheduled to announce the plan to have its
Linux distribution certified on certain IBM Netfinity servers,
sources said. IBM also plans to encompass the rest of the "big four"
Linux distributors: Caldera Systems, which has a strong presence
among server resellers; SuSE, a company that is strong in Europe; and
Pacific Hi-Tech, which dominates in Japan and China.

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