IBM Archive

IBM is disclosing the technical details of a new 64-bit PowerPC microprocessor designed for desktops and entry-level servers. Based on the award winning Power4 design, this processor is an 8-way superscalar design that fully supports Symmetric MultiProcessing. The processor is further enhanced by a vector processing unit implementing over 160 specialized vector instructions and implements a system interface capable of up to 6.4GB/s. Read more here and here. The first article speculates that Apple might find a future in these new IBM CPUs. Update: News.com has an article too.

The initial release of the IBM WebSphere SDK for Web Services on Linux is now available. Developers can easily create Java-based applications for Web service providers and consumers. This offering contains everything developers need in a single convenient package, including a IBM SDK for Java technology, a runtime environment, a private UDDI registry, tools, samples, and documentation. It's based on open specifications for Web services such as SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI and runs on both Linux and Windows operating systems. The IBM WebSphere SDK for Web Services includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation and is being offered at this time for free.

"The German government has signed a deal with IBM and Linux company SuSE that makes it easier for government offices to use the open-source operating system, a move that addresses concerns about relying too heavily on Microsoft products." Read the report at News.com.

The latest IBM middleware for Linux (DB2 Universal Database, WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Studio Application Developer, and Lotus Domino) is being provided, at no cost, on a 2 CD set, along with Web Services technologies, Linux technical articles, Linux Redbooks, and the very popular Java battle-bots game Robocode. IBM is also providing a worldwide no-cost 2-day Linux workshop, which includes hands-on labs for installing and configuring Linux.

In this interview with a top VP at IBM Grid Computing, an old idea coming back, is defined as the next emerging technology. Specifically, cheap bandwidth and interoperable standards have created an environment where Grid Computing is not only possible but also "the natural evolution of the Internet".

IBM and SAP announced general availability of mySAP.com on Linux for IBM eServer zSeries. This is just another example of the many ISVs that have migrated their applications to the Linux for IBM zSeries family. Here is the complete list of ISVs who have ported to the zSeries servers and the FAQ for mySAP on Linux for IBM eServer zSeries.

Members of developerWorks open source projects can now compile their code on the first compiler farm in the open source community that runs on an IBM eServer zSeries server. The zSeries is the world's first dedicated Linux mainframe server.

IBM's strategy for Linux is starting to pay off as "Linux Breathes New Life Into The Mainframe". The focus is not only sales but also in education as IBM released two tutorials this month on "LPI certification 101 exam prep" and "Apache Web Development with IBM DB2 for Linux".

Given its size, when IBM talks about Linux, people listen. Two years after IBM laid out its Linux strategy, the company seems to have met its goals and then some. Joe Barr talks to IBM's Linux czar to find what's ahead for the computer giant and open source.

IBM announced on Monday that it will donate $40 million of its software tools to the public domain in a move to create an open-source organization aimed at developers. An organization called Eclipse will make available some of IBM's software programming tools to developers to create applications for e-businesses and Web services. More than 150 of the leading open-source companies, such as Linux distributors Red Hat and SuSE, along with Merant, QSSL and Rational, will be part of the Eclipse community.