IBM Opens High-Octane File System, Dec 16, 2005

With the popularity of Linux clusters booming, IBM has opened up the source code to its General Parallel File System (GPFS), so it can run on other vendors' hardware.

IBM, a long time contributor and supporter of the Linux and open source movement, today bestowed its highest tier partner status on commercial Linux vendors Red Hat and Novell Inc.

IBM plans to support early next year the OpenDocument standard in its desktop software, a product the company intends to market aggressively in developing countries.

IBM plans to announce on Wednesday that it's giving away software to help customers and business partners adapt software written for Sun Microsystems' Solaris operating system to its open-source rival Linux.

IBM unveiled two software tools on Tuesday that will make high-volume printing jobs faster, easier and more secure through automation.

IBM is linking up its OmniFind corporate search system with Google's free desktop search for business to make it easier for users to locate information throughout an organisation that is often locked up in many separate systems

IBM and eight other storage vendors have formed a new open-source organisation to develop storage software.

IBM will announce Thursday (October 20) its creation of a new digital media system for the NFL and NFL Films that will streamline and simplify its production flow while making possible future breakthroughs in the viewing experience.

IBM and Novell will start offering SuSE Linux 9 on a per-chassis, rather than per server, subscription basis later this month.

Irving Wladawsky-Berger, vice president, Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM, attributes the success of the OS to this growing community of Linux contributors. The Linux Executive Report recently spoke with Wladawsky-Berger about the past, present and future of Linux.

New processors, systems and virtualisation software are aimed squarely at Sun's low-end customer base

In a deal similar to one it already has with Novell, IBM is now joining hands with market leader Red Hat to push Linux into emerging markets such as China, India, Russia and Korea without overlooking the established markets.

An IBM-commissioned study has found that it is 40 percent cheaper to use open-source servers like Linux rather than licensed ones like the Microsoft Windows servers. Two total cost of ownership (TCO) reports commissioned by Big Blue found these startling facts.

IBM will focus on helping tech start-ups in emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, particularly firms using open standards such as the Java programming language and Linux operating system.

According to Gartner, 45 percent of midsize businesses are already building some applications with Linux. That’s up from virtually nothing a couple of years ago. IBM is responsible for at least some of that gro

IBM has told Linux developers the desktop is the next frontier, but they must avoid employing the same tactics used against Unix on servers to conquer it.

IBM has begun participating in open-source Java project Harmony and intends to contribute code to the initiative, according to a Big Blue executive.

OS/2 users are calling on IBM to make the operating system an open source project

Big Blue has hammered the final nails into OS/2's coffin. It said that all sales of OS/2 will end on the 23rd of December this year, and support for the pre-emptive multitasking operating system will end on the 31st December 2006.

IBM has acquired privately held Meiosys, a company that sells high-end clustering software that provides backup functionality, Big Blue said Thursday. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

IBM and the government of Mexican state Baja California have launched an open-source software technology center, IBM said in a statement.

IBM Corp. hopes to do for its Power processor what it helped do for Linux: create a bigger market in which lots of vendors can play, and earn more money for IBM in the process

IBM, having thrown open its Power chip architecture, is becoming the new pied piper for open-source chips.

IBM today introduced the latest additions to its telecoms product portfolio with the unveiling of Power PC processor-based BladeCenter JS20 blades in the BladeCenter T chassis.

IBM executives declined to comment on the company's use of Wine for this article, and while the software is mentioned occasionally on IBM's Web site, it is generally not endorsed as a tool for moving Windows desktops to Linux.

Worldwide revenues in the computer server market showed strong growth in the first quarter, as leader IBM and the other top vendors held on to their positions.

Analysts say IBM's purchase of Gluecode Software is proof that Big Blue is taking its open source strategy into a new phase and seeking to better define the value of open source by filling in blank spots among tools and applications.

In a bid to fend off Sun's rejuvenated Solaris OS, Red Hat and Big Blue are teaming up to convince customers to migrate over to Linux.

Linux and mainframes are a curious combination of new and old technology, but IBM has a strong financial incentive to merge the two.

"Linux has been very successful in this part of the world. There's a lot of interest in building technology and innovation around Linux."

International Business Machines Corp. on Tuesday said it has acquired Gluecode Software, an open-source firm that helps companies manage business applications on their office computer networks.

I.B.M. is increasingly betting that it can build a big business around open-source software. The latest step in that strategy is the purchase of Gluecode Software, an open-source start-up.

The Israeli government will provide financing and IBM will provide technical assistance to startup companies developing products based on open standards such as Linux and Java.

IBM today stepped up its open source efforts with the contribution of more than 30 projects to SourceForge.net.

On Friday, the company said it is contributing some 30 projects to SourceForge.net, a repository of open source code and related material.

Some of the biggest criticisms of Sun Microsystems' OpenSolaris project have come from IBM's vice president of worldwide Linux strategy, Scott Handy, who during an interview regarding the new IBM Chiphopper program said he did not expect OpenSolaris to generate the following that Linux had accumulated.

In response to high double-digit growth in 2004 in the number of customers deploying IBM collaboration software on the Linux platform, IBM today announced plans to invest US$100 million over three years to expand Linux support and technology across its Workplace software portfolio.

IBM is readying a number of new marketing programs that it hopes will encourage another 6,000 independent software vendors to port their software to the Linux operating system over the next three years.

Buoyed by the success of cooperative ventures promoting Linux in Brazil and a few other developing countries, IBM plans to spread its open-source philosophy to other parts of the globe in 2005.

More than a year after IBM CEO and chairman Sam Palmisano challenged his company to move to the Linux desktop by the end of 2005

It appears that the two-way OpenPower 710 will be IBM's latest Linux-powered server

Hoping to further capitalize in the rapidly growing Linux market, IBM on Monday will expand its fledgling OpenPower server portfolio.

While IBM's move could help users get new open source products faster by removing development roadblocks, open source advocates and patent watchers ultimately would like to see companies such as IBM change their overall software patenting strategies.

"I think IBM is trying to kill two birds with one stone," said Florian Mueller, campaign manager of NoSoftwarePatents.com, a Munich-based association. "IBM wants to appease the open-source people in the U.S. and simultaneously influence the political debate over patents in Europe."

The deal in which IBM has effectively ceded its notebook and desktop PC business to Chinese maker Lenovo was given official US government approval here today.

IBM has decided to let open-source developers use 500 software patents without fear of an infringement lawsuit, a new step in its encouragement of the collaborative programming philosophy.

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