In a keynote at LinuxCon North America last week, Brad McCredie, IBM Fellow and Vice President of Power Development, announced that IBM plans to invest $1 billion over the next 5 years in new Linux and open source technologies for IBM’s Power Systems servers. This new investment exemplifies IBM’s commitment to provide choice and flexibility for clients to manage and develop next generation applications for big data and analytics, social and mobile, and cloud-based solutions using open source technology.
IBM also announced two immediate initiatives which focus on rapidly expanding IBM’s growing ecosystem supporting Linux on Power Systems. A new Power Systems Linux Center in Montpellier, France, is among a growing network of centers around the world including Beijing, China, Austin, Texas and New York, New York, where software developers can build and deploy new applications for big data, cloud, mobile and social business computing on open technology building blocks using Linux and the latest IBM POWER7+ processor technology.
And, to serve the growing number of developers, business partners and clients interested in running Linux on Power Systems, IBM offers the Linux on Power development cloud, a no-charge cloud service to stimulate Developers and Business Partners interested in running Linux on Power Systems with the ability to prototype, build, port, and test Linux applications on the Power platform as well as applications built for AIX and IBM i.
The announcement that IBM again pledges $1 billion to a Linux effort, garnered attention in the media, including the Wall Street Journal’s coverage here. See the IBM press release about this announcement here.
An eWeek slide show, “IBM's Linux Investment: A Look at Years of Commitment,” provides an overview of IBM’s Linux investment through the years.
This latest news comes on the heels of IBM’s recent OpenPOWER announcement that makes the IBM POWER microprocessor available under license to other companies for open collaboration and development. The consortium marks the first time that IBM is making its key server hardware available to drive open innovation.
IBM was a Platinum Sponsor of LinuxCon North America. To learn more about IBM’s presence at LinuxCon read the Linux.com blog by Lisa Johnston, VP, Worldwide Marketing, IBM Power Systems here.