IBM Archive

IBM unveiled technology intended to reduce complexity in software installation and packaging and has submitted it to the W3C for consideration as an industry standard. Dubbed Solution Installation for Autonomic Computing, the technology enables software developers and software vendors to improve the installation and support experience and simplify the software packaging process, according to IBM. Developers would be able to build packaged software for installation on a variety of platforms.

IBM is expected to announce a new generation of Unix servers on Tuesday that can run multiple OSes simultaneously, systems it believes powerful enough to let Big Blue topple rivals Sun Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.

Is a PowerPC G5 notebook at hand? An IBM chip designer details forthcoming power-saving PowerTune technology that will let the processor work in mobile and server platforms.

How committed is IBM to the open-source movement? Officially, IBM is the world's loudest promoter of open-source software, spending millions to run Linux advertisements and fund an open-source development lab, and devoting hundreds of its own programmers to cranking out open-source code.

Much has happened since the days when the first Beowulf cluster was deployed, but while cost still matters, today technology is the differentiator that helps keep costs in check. To get an update on IBM clustering technology, the industry and what customers are doing with clusters take a look at this interview with Dave Turek, Vice President, IBM's Deep Computing.

IBM has created a module to handle Java for its mainframes while released a budget mainframe for midsize companies to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its mainframe business.

PowerPC processors are found in everything from supercomputers to game consoles and from servers to cell phones -- and they all share a common architecture. This introduction to the PowerPC application-level programming model will give you an overview of the instruction set, important registers, and other details necessary for developing reliable, high performing PowerPC applications and maintaining code compatibility among processors.

Are you developing in Java, ANSI C++, Visual C++6, CORBA, IDL, MIDL, or XML, Or are you a .NET developer using Visual C#, Visual Basic, NET, ASP, .NET, or evaluating the .NET platform? Either way with the new PowerPack you’ll get a robust collection of resources that will enable you to evaluate IBM software development tools designed to help you with your specific developer needs. Go here and pick the resources you want and get it mailed to you at no cost.

As part of its initiative to put Linux on the desktop, IBM Corp. wants to migrate Microsoft Corp.'s Office suite to Linux. Microsoft said it's not involved and suggests that IBM might do it by emulation.

"Although nobody has been able to smuggle out a single screenshot of the top-secret IBM Linux desktop OS—often referred to as Blue Linux—I have friends who have seen it. I am assured that it not only exists, but is being used by large numbers of IBMers. "They are going through a process of eating their own dog food right now," I was told." Read the aeditorial from John C. Dvorak .

In this month's "The Linux Line" issue: Bill Zeitler, Senior Vice President and Group Executive, IBM Systems Group, tells how Linux is changing the way that governments and companies operate; Red Hat CEO Matthew Szulik talks about the continued expansion of Red Hat into the global marketplace;

IBM announced two compilers for Mac OS X: "IBM XL Fortran Advanced Edition V8.1 for Mac OS X -- A new platform supported in the IBM XL Fortran family" and "XL C/C++ Advanced Edition V6.0 for Mac OS X -- A new platform for the IBM family of C/C++ compilers".

"The UK government has a 'level playing field' policy for use of Open Source Software, but although it is supposed to be considering "OSS solutions alongside proprietary ones in IT procurements", this does not seem to have produced much in the way of significant deployments or contracts. And who is to blame for this apparent lack of movement? A smoking pistol placed before a Parliamentary Committee last week seemed to implicate that well-known partisan of Open Source Software IBM." TheRegister reports. And all this while the press is expecting IBM to give a talk at Desktop Linux Consortium's conference on Monday about Linux on the desktop.

IBM has previewed the designs for its upcoming 64-bit Power 5 processor, which the company states will augment total system performance by 40 percent over its predecessor. At last week's Hot Chips Conference in Palo Alto, Calif., IBM disclosed that it was incorporating simultaneous multi-threading into Power 5; the process takes chip multiprocessing to a new level where each chip tackles two threads as opposed to one.