Q&A with IBM's Mark Shearer: Still Mister System i
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

When IBM reorganized its Systems and Technology Group once last July and then again this January, the System i product line seemed to get a bit lost in the shuffle. In July, the System i went from being a division to being a product line split between high-end and low-end divisions, Power Systems and Business Systems, and then in January IBM finished redrawing the organization chart and cut product development and manufacturing from sales and marketing. READ MORE >

Linux and Windows Server Sales Outpace the Market in Q4
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Well, it is probably not a big surprise to anyone that revenues for servers running Linux or Windows outpaced the sales of the rest of the market in the final quarter of 2007. In fact, one way of looking at the market statistics just released by analysts at IDC is that Linux and Windows boxes are the main reason why the server market managed to grow revenues by 2.4 percent to $15.7 billion, driven by a 9 percent growth in shipments. READ MORE >

Infinite Software Partners with HP, Acquires Altos Technology Group
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

It has been a busy couple of weeks for legacy application rehosting environment provider Infinite Software, which you probably remember by its former name, California Software. Several weeks ago, Infinite Software announced that it had partnered with server and operating system maker Hewlett-Packard in an effort to offer customers with vintage RPG and COBOL applications running on AS/400, iSeries, and System i platforms the option of running that code on HP's Itanium-based Integrity servers running HP-UX, Windows, or Linux. READ MORE >

Mad Dog 21/21: Plane's Peeking
by Hesh Wiener

In computing, even the industry leaders can get hit with surprises coming from angles they never dreamed of. Sometimes these new ideas substantially change or extend the world of computing. These disruptive developments add new dimensions to information processing. And it's often very hard for the established leaders to understand what is emerging before their eyes. This is a situation much like the one at the heart of 'Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions,' a short, witty novel about mathematics and Victorian society written by Edwin A. Abbott, a theologian and scholar. Ballmer, Palmisano, and you ought to give it a quick read. READ MORE >