[H-GEN] IBM - linux (fwd)

[Nickolas Kwiatkowski]

Got this from the IBM Intranet,

Nik

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 13:08:00 +1000
From: "Kwiatkowski, Nick [IBM GSA]" <NKwiatko at qtrnnmsd.telstra.com.au>
To: Nickolas - QUT <nickolas at fit.qut.edu.au>
Subject: IBM - linux


 IBM to Linux-ize PCs
 ------------------------------

 Will launch broad initiative, including its own version
 of OS

 By Carmen Nobel and Scott Berinato, PC Week
 Online
 February 15, 1999 9:00 AM ET

 Looking to push Linux further into the
 enterprise, IBM next month plans to
 announce a far-reaching strategy that
 includes bundling the operating system on
 PCs and developing its own version of
 Linux for its RS/6000 servers.

 IBM will announce on March 2 at
 LinuxWorld in San Jose, Calif., plans to
 offer Linux-based Netfinity servers,
 low-end RS/6000 servers and
 workstations, and Linux-based PC
 300-series desktop PCs, sources said.

 IBM also will lead a new trend by
 announcing support for more than just one
 commercial Linux vendor. IBM plans to
 announce licensing deals with several top
 Linux distributors, including Red Hat
 Software Inc., Pacific HiTech Inc., Caldera
 Systems Inc. and S.u.S.E.

 And for the RS/6000 version, at least, IBM
 will not only support other vendors' Linux
 offerings but will also develop its own
 version of the operating system specially
 configured to run on the PowerPC chip,
 according to sources close to the Armonk,
 N.Y., company.

 Server vendors to date have announced
 support mainly for Red Hat Linux, which
 became one of the most widely used
 versions of Linux last year after Red Hat
 Software received ample funding from Intel
 Corp.

 Since then, companies such as
 Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Computer
 Corp., Silicon Graphics Inc. and Compaq
 Computer Corp. have signed deals to
 bundle and support Red Hat Linux in their server hardware.

 IBM's move to license additional vendors' Linux products could push
 other vendors to support multiple versions of the operating system as
 well. Compaq and Dell, for example, are in talks with Caldera about
 licensing the company's OpenLinux, according to sources.

 "These vendors don't want to hitch their wagons to one Linux
 distributor," said one source who is familiar with the IBM deal. "Red Hat
 has done a great job, but they're one $20 million company."

 IBM's Linux plans also will include middleware support, according to
 one IBM official who requested anonymity. In addition, IBM has bids in
 with several large scientific customers to create enormous clusters of
 Netfinity servers running Linux, officials said.

 The news that IBM will support several Linux distributors is receiving
 mixed reviews from observers, who are both pleased to see the industry
 paying attention to Linux and worried that support for myriad versions
 will breed chaos.

 "This is how you ruin Linux," said Kimball Brown, an analyst at
 Dataquest Inc., in San Jose, Calif. "I think what Intel is doing is
 right--investing in one version of Linux. The more you support all the
 versions, the more of a mess it becomes."

 Others see the benefit of diversity."It's limiting for people to glom onto
 Red Hat as the be-all and end-all when they're not the only game in
 town," said Steve Durst, a networking consultant for the U.S. Air Force,
 in Bedford, Mass.

 Other news expected at the show includes the following:

Caldera will preview the 2.x version of its OpenLinux operating
system, which is based on the new Linux 2.2 kernel.  OpenLinux
2.x will ship about three weeks after the show, said sources close
to the Orem, Utah, company.

San Francisco-based LinuxCare Inc. will follow IBM's
distributor-agnostic lead by announcing full 24-by-7 Linux
support on all major Linux platforms, officials said.
Pacific HiTech, of Oakland, Calif., will announce a bundle of its
TurboLinux 3.0 with a Linux version of IBM's DB2 database,
sources said.



 LinuxWorld rollout

IBM to announce massive Linux strategy that spreads across
servers, PCs and several Linux distributors Caldera to preview 
its 2.x version of OpenLinux, based on the 2.2 kernel
LinuxCare to introduce 24-by-7 support for all variations of Linux
Pacific HiTech to start bundling TurboLinux with IBM's DB2 database


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