Has the Linux 'dream
machine' arrived?
By Mary Jo Foley, ZDNet News
IBM's pitch to make the mainframe the premier
e-business platform is getting a little help from
an unexpected place: Linux.
Big Blue promised earlier this year to port Linux
to all its server platforms. But to many that
commitment sounded like little more than a
platitude.
Now, however, even IBM seems to be surprised
by the popularity of its Linux for S/390 port.
To date, there have been 1,100 downloads from
IBM's DeveloperWorks Web site of IBM's
mainframe Linux variant.
And customers say the combination of the
mainframe operating system's legacy
transaction capabilities, combined with Linux's
hosting strengths, makes for a powerful
commerce platform.
IBM: Mainframes now sexy
IBM is working with a select group of pilot
customers to develop and test business
applications for Linux on S/390. On Thursday it
opened its first e-Transactions "think tanks" in
New York and France.
The move to bring Linux to the mainframe
comes at a time when IBM is continuing to try to
build momentum for its message that the good,
old mainframe is a very hot e-commerce
platform.
IBM is pitching OS/390 Version 2 Release 9 --
the latest release of one of IBM's mainframe
OSes, due to begin shipping on Friday -- as an
industrial strength e-business system.
When coupled with the highly available, reliable
S/390 hardware, IBM says, the platform is
tailor-made for demanding commerce
applications.
Match made in heaven
"Customers playing with it (Linux for S/390) are
finding interest in running multiple instances of
Linux on a single server," said Rich Lechner,
vice president of e-business for IBM's Enterprise
Systems Group.
"This is very interesting for ASPs and ISPs,"
Lechner said, as is the capability to run
middleware such as the Apache HTTP server
right on an IBM mainframe.
Grede Foundries, a producer of manufacturing
parts, is test-driving Linux on S/390 inside its
business operations center.
Currently, the company maintains all its central
accounting and shipping software and related
data on its S/390 mainframe. Its Windows
NT-based corporate intranet is linked back to
this mainframe, giving employees access to the
data.
"When the time is right, we want to move that
intranet to the mainframe," said Rich Smrcina,
systems software specialist for Grede. "The
factor is speed. If Linux and the data can both
reside on the mainframe, the data will be able to
flow significantly faster."
Smrcina said the Linux platform also brings to
the mainframe ready ports of interesting
middleware, ranging from Apache to Samba to
the Bind DNS server software.
But wait! There's more ...
The mainframe is hardly the only server
platform where IBM's made a commitment to
Linux.
"There's a plan for Linux compatibility on the
AS/400," said Miles Barel, program director of
Unix brand marketing for IBM's Enterprise
Systems Group. "There will be both
interoperability and application compatibility
aspects."
He declined to offer further details.
Barel said IBM has a three-pronged Linux
strategy across all of its platforms.
It is making certain there will be a common Linux
application environment across its servers,
meaning it will provide a set of libraries and
interfaces that will allow core Linux applications
to be compiled for different hardware/software
platforms.
Contributing to open source
IBM also is contributing some of its AIX Unix
technologies, such as its journaling filing
system, to the open-source process.
The company is considering adding others in
the areas of cluster technology, SMP scalability,
systems management and security, as well,
Barel said.
Finally, IBM is focusing on making sure all its
development tools and core applications are
ported to Linux.
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