While Linux has taken the market by storm over the last several years, it has done so almost entirely on Intel servers. This year, however, IBM's iSeries and pSeries servers are in a good position to capture a small but significant share of Linux workloads. That's because elements of the IT community are beginning to see the value of these servers as Linux platforms and are making new investments in them.
Two trends are finally enabling Linux to take off on POWER servers. The first is IBM's persistent efforts over the last year to bring its middleware and management tools to the iSeries and pSeries. The second trend is the rapidly growing number of iSeries and pSeries customers that run logical partitions (LPARs) on their systems. Last year, for instance, 55% of all i825s that IBM shipped--not to mention 74% of all i870 and i890 models--went out the doors with at least one LPAR enabled. As a result, tens of thousands of customers now use LPARs. Since LPARs are a prerequisite for running Linux, IBM now has a market of adequate size to attract Linux independent software vendors (ISVs) and service providers.
The good news is that a small but rapidly growing number of those ISVs and service providers are feeling that attraction and responding positively to it. A year ago, IBM could only claim a handful of Linux ISVs that supported POWER servers. Today, you can go to a list of POWER Linux applications on IBM's Web site and find 159 ISVs (by my count) that offer applications for either the iSeries or pSeries. The following table provides a breakdown of those ISVs and their applications by server family.
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POWER Linux ISVs and Applications
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||
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# of ISVs
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# of Applications
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|
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iSeries only
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76
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107
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pSeries only
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55
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109
|
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Both iSeries and pSeries
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28
|
33
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|
Total
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159
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249
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As the table demonstrates, Linux ISVs are targeting the two servers in roughly equal numbers. At present, only 28 ISVs have certified applications on both the iSeries and pSeries. This indicates that most ISVs believe it is not worth the effort to certify and support their applications on both servers. However, many of them could change their minds once the iSeries and pSeries utilize the same partitioning hypervisor. That hypervisor, which IBM is now calling its Virtualization Engine, will manage LPARs on all the POWER5 servers that the company announces during the second quarter of this year. Once the iSeries and pSeries manage Linux LPARs using the same facility, it will be much easier for ISVs to certify and support their applications on both servers.
As for the ISVs that have certified their applications on the iSeries, it is interesting to note that many are relatively new to the server. This is important for the iSeries, as new ISVs often bring new customers to the platform. Of course, there are familiar names on the list such as DataMirror, HiT Software, LANSA, Vision Solutions, and ResQNet. However, the number of newcomers is strikingly large. Here are three of them:
Acucorp, a provider of tools that modernize and Web-enable COBOL applications, signed up to support the iSeries two years ago.
CrossLogic Corporation, a provider of development tools for e-commerce sites and portals, is new to the iSeries.
S2 Systems, a developer of payment processing applications that have historically run on Stratus systems, ported to the iSeries Linux environment this year.
It should also be noted that a large number of the new ISVs are foreign firms, with many harking from Korea, Japan, Germany, and Brazil. These countries are in regions that are adopting Linux more rapidly than North America is. With its growing Linux application portfolio, the iSeries may well gain a higher percentage of its new customers from these regions than it has in the past.
While the iSeries Linux platform has significant potential, it is still just a blip on the applications radar screen compared to the massive solutions portfolios running on OS/400, Windows, and UNIX. That becomes clear if one considers that the majority of the 2,500 new customers that the iSeries gained last year deployed OS/400 rather than Linux applications. However, even if iSeries Linux is a blip, it is one that is getting bigger by the minute. Indeed, IBM sources claim that ISVs will port another 300 Linux applications the iSeries and pSeries over the coming months.
In short, 2004 will be the year when the iSeries and pSeries become important platforms for Linux applications. It will also become the year when the iSeries gains support for AIX, IBM's version of UNIX. These enhancements will enable the iSeries to attract customers that want to consolidate multiple UNIX and Windows servers onto a single platform. While it is hard to say just how many of those customers there will be, any number will be a net gain for the iSeries that it could not have realized before this year. That's good news for a platform that still needs to prove its longevity to a skeptical IT market.
Editor's Note: If you're ready to give Linux a try or you're already using Linux, you'll want to follow Barry Kline's Linux column in MC Mag Online. If you're still unsure, perhaps this should be the first article you read: "The Linux Letter: A Windows User Takes a Walk on the Dark Side...and Likes It!"
Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at
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