IBM Jumps into LinuxWorld with a Bang

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IBM , one of the first firms to champion Linux as an
enterprise platform, opens LinuxWorld New York this week with a series of new
offerings intended to extend the platform’s reach into the financial
services, insurance and retail industries, among others.

The new offerings span IBM’s software and hardware lines, and also include
a reference design platform for low-powered devices like smartphones and
PDAs.

On the software side, Big Blue unveiled Linux client support for its Lotus
iNotes Web Access software, giving end-users the ability to access
Lotus-Notes based functions like e-mail, calendaring and scheduling by
logging onto the Web. It supports the latest Linux version of Netscape.

IBM is positioning iNotes Web Access to appeal to the financial sector,
noting that it will give banking organizations the ability to eliminate the
costs of separate, dedicated e-mail systems at branch offices by giving
employees secure access to e-mail and calendaring functions.

IBM also raised the curtain on Tivoli System Automation for Linux, a
product of its autonomic computing initiative. The product — which runs on
IBM eServer zSeries, pSeries and xSeries platforms — aims to slash
operational complexity and costs with policy-based self-healing
capabilities which can identify failing IT clusters and then provide
notification and solve the problem.

For hardware, Big Blue continued to deliver on its commitment to deliver
integrated Linux solutions across its entire eServer family of products by
unleashing eServer Integrated Platform for e-business on zSeries, allowing
customers to choose from pre-configured and tested hardware and software
packages designed to make building a Linux and mainframe-based e-business a
breeze. The packages include:

SuSE Linux Enterprise Server for S/390 and zSeries 7
z/VM v4.3
WebSphere Application Server AE v4.0.4
IBM Directory Server (LDAP) v4.1
One year of software support and IBM Global Services Linuxline support
Optional installation and customization support from IBM Global
Services and IBM Global Financing.

IBM produced the eServer Integrated Platform for e-business on eServer
xSeries servers last may, and plans to make similar packages available on
the eServer pSeries and iSeries later in the year.

The company also unveiled a new version of its Intel-based eServer x345
server, a two-way rack-based server which now offers Intel Xeon processors
with speeds up to 2.8GHz. The server also adds support for Intel’s 533 MHz
front side bus.

Also, IBM introduced eServer p650 with Linux, an addition to the pSeries
midrange line which offers native Linux, 2-way 4GB, 4-way 8GB, and 8-way
16GB.

Big Blue also bowed the Speed-start your Linux App for IBM eServer pSeries
program, designed to help ISVs and business partners help in creating and
porting Linux-based applications to support the new pSeries Linux servers.
The program delivers free access to software through the Speed Start your
Linux Apps program. Developers who register with the program receive IBM’s
Software Evaluation Kit for Linux CD, which includes evaluation copies of
DB2, WebSphere and Tivoli. It also includes free tech support for the
software. In addition, the program offers application development tools
including a Web services Development Kit with IBM’s Java Virtual Machine
technology and 64-bit POWER enabled C/C++ and FORTRAN compilers.

Finally, IBM used Monday as an opportunity to announce its new Linux-based
reference platform for low-powered devices. The reference platform is based
on the IBM PowerPC 405 LP embedded processor and the recently
announced MontaVista Linux Consumer Electronics Edition (CEE) 3.0
version of MontaVista Software’s embedded Linux platform. The platform
includes new device software, in the form of IBM’s WebSphere Everyplace
Mobile Device Edition, with tools for handwriting and speech recognition,
e-mail, video and databases. IBM said the reference platform will be
available in the second quarter.