Emerging Markets and Virtualization Drive Q3 Server Sales
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Server lines, perhaps with the exception of IBM's System z and System i servers, did pretty well in the third quarter, according to the latest market share statistics from Gartner. The upgrade cycle in data centers and departments for 64-bit, energy-efficient, and virtualization-capable servers, coupled with raw growth in processing capacity in emerging markets like China, India, and Russia, boosted both server shipments and revenues in the third quarter on a global basis. READ MORE >

Top Mainframe Stories from Around the Web

(Isham Research) Platform Solutions is no longer standing alone in its counter-lawsuit with IBM. According to this report, T3 Technologies, another maker of clone mainframe products, has joined Platform's lawsuit and has filed a motion to intervene as a counterclaim plaintiff in the case. IBM sued Platform in November 2006, alleging that Platform's products breach its contracts with Big Blue and infringe IBM's software patents. READ MORE >

(The Register) It's a story that doesn't seem to get old. Someone gets to suing someone else in the IT industry over an operating system issue, and next thing you know, Microsoft is kicking in some funds to one side. Microsoft was one of the main financial props that allowed the SCO Group to sue IBM over alleged leaking of Unix technologies into Linux and for breach of its Unix contracts, and now Microsoft is providing some of the $37 million in third-round venture capital funding to Platform Solutions, which is defending itself against breach of contract and patent infringements in a case launched last November by Big Blue. Intel, Blueprint Ventures, Goldman Sachs, InterWest Partners, and InvestCorp have all kicked in money to Platform since it was founded in 2003. READ MORE >

(SearchDataCenter.com) As expected, IBM and its development partner, Sine Nomine Associates, which helped bring Linux to the mainframe, have begun showing off an early alpha release of the OpenSolaris variant of Unix running on mainframes. IBM and SNA (yes, I find that amusing, too, and it is obviously not an accident) were showing off OpenSolaris running on the mainframe's z/VM operating system as a guest at the Gartner Data Center Conference in Las Vegas last week. We'll have more details on z/OpenSolaris in next week's newsletter. In the meantime, check this report out. READ MORE >

(IT Jungle) It's that time of the year again. All of the pundits, pollsters, and analysts are trying to pick the brains of IT managers to try to figure out where their budgets are going--up, down, or the same--in 2008. Computer Economics has been tracking systems and storage equipment pricing and IT budget trends since 1990, and has just put out a report that suggests IT budget growth will not be spectacular in the coming year. READ MORE >

Chats, Webinars, Seminars, Shows, and Other Happenings

See our full calendar of events at
http://www.itjungle.com/big/big-calendar.html

December 2-7 -- San Diego, California - The 33rd annual Computer Measurement Group conference, CMG2007, brings together data processing professionals interested in system evaluation to maximize performance measured in terms of response time, throughput, and through capacity management. Sessions are geared toward making enhancements to existing systems or designing new systems with the aim of providing adequate performance at a reasonable cost. The courses are divided into two groups. One group consists of platform agnostic sessions and provides attendees with basic knowledge that is independent of any specific hardware or operating system. The second group is platform specific specializing in operating systems such as z/OS, Windows, Unix, and Linux. LEARN MORE >

December 2-4 -- Amelia Island, Florida - The second annual Gartner CIO Summit kicks off, with James Popkin, a research group vice president and author of a new book called IT and the East, will be delivering the keynote address to the CIOs in attendance, explaining how China and India will fundamentally change the IT environment. (Like they haven't already, right?) The event has lots of time to hob-nob and network with fellow CIOs. There's almost certainly some time to play a few rounds of golf, too. LEARN MORE >

February 24-29, 2008 -- Orlando, Florida - The SHARE mainframe user group will be hosting its spring event in sunny Florida, and will be focusing on two areas that are affecting mainframe shops in a big way these days: Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) application software design and server virtualization and consolidation. As usual, SHARE will also include the Technology Exchange Expo, where vendors can hawk their mainframe wares and attendees can try to find the tools to solve their IT woes. LEARN MORE >