IBM Opts for Linux Port in Mainframe

[Richard <nospam [at] sheflug.co.uk>]

Hello

After reading Moles effort and some stuff about Mr Wongs corporation
in this weeks version of Computing the trade mag I noticed something
at page 3 which was of even more interest. See.....

http://www.vnunet.com/thebusiness

The headline says (and I quote)......

IBM Opts for Linux Port in Mainframe

IBM has ported Linux to its S/390 mainframe platform, but is
keeping the news under wraps, writes Lisa Kelly of vnunet news.

A source inside IBM said that the company 'talked about but did not
announce'' Linux/390 at a technical conference earlier this year. He
confirmed there would be two versions. The first will be a Linux/390
emulator and the second a Linux/390 on S/390 running 'bare metal' -
directly on the hardware itself (that means on the hard drive)

and later on in the same article

Independent mainframe watcher Phil Payne said IBM has created S/390
to increase the speed at which third party applications, such as
SAP's R/3 software or Lotus'' Domino appear on the mainframe. 'It is
a time to market issue' , said Payne. 'Domino and SAP are developed
in C and designed for Windows NT and Unix. By the time they hit the
mainframe, there is a severe time lag. Putting a Linux environment
into S/390 will decrease the delay. It will give the mainframe a
tremendous competitive advantage' .

Mithul Mehta European Group Manager for consultant Frost Sullivan
said IBM will upgrade S/390 to include Linux because it has to stay
ahead of its rivals. 'Large organisations are evaluating Linux. If
customers say they need it , IBM must provide it ' , he said.

In September IBM announced software it described as a Linux emulator
for its AIX variant of Unix.

Hmm ...... interesting ??

Richard

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