IBM Launches Linux-Only Power5 Box with Big Price Cuts
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

If you like IBM's Power5 hardware, which has about as much horsepower under the skins as any server out there, and you like Linux, you are probably going to like the new line of Linux-only servers from IBM called the eServer OpenPower machines. IBM hopes the OpenPower machines will kickstart customer and ISV enthusiasm for running Linux applications on IBM's Power architecture. Big Blue is hoping that it can ride up the Linux wave and boost the volumes of its Power5 machines as it gets tougher to boost volumes in the RISC/Unix market. READ MORE >

Cybernet Systems Updates Linux Appliance Server
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

In many ways, the development of the Linux market parallels that of the Unix market, and one of them is that there has been an explosion of different variants of the Linux platform. The difference with Linux, of course, is that there is essentially one kernel (practically speaking, there are a few different ones), and that the proliferation of Linux variations is more times than not focused at the systems or applications level. READ MORE >

Fujitsu-Siemens Debuts New Entry, Blade Servers
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

The Fujitsu-Siemens partnership between Japanese server maker Fujitsu and German computer maker Siemens have announced two new additions to their Primergy series of X86 servers. The new entries, which include a new uniprocessor tower and rack server and a four-way blade server, are aimed at keeping the heat on Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM in Germany and Japan, where Fujitsu-Siemens not surprisingly often sets the local pace for technology and pricing. READ MORE >

IBM, Intel Open Up BladeCenter with Royalty-Free Specs
by Timothy Prickett Morgan

No one knows better than IBM the dangers of opening up the specifications of a hardware technology. In 1981, in an effort to create a vibrant ecosystem with its legendary PC AT personal computer, IBM completely opened up the specs, allowing not only anyone to create hardware and software that plugged into the PC AT, but also eventually allowing Compaq and others to create full-blown clones of it. This undercut IBM's PC sales, and it lost control of the PC platform it created. As IBM and Intel rolled out a royalty-free technology licensing agreement for the BladeCenter blade server design they share, you can bet the two only want the ecosystem part of history to repeat itself. READ MORE >

  But Wait, There's More

Server Makers, Linux Distros Back LSB 2.0 . . . Novell Restructures Development with Linux Focus . . . Red Hat Hires New CFO and New Global Services VP . . . Unisys Partners with Red Hat for Linux on ES7000 Servers . . . Merrill Lynch Calls for HP Breakup--Again . . . Offshoring CEO Salaries Are High . . . READ MORE >

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