The Linux Executive Report from IBM
August 28, 2013
The Linux Executive Report from IBM: August 28, 2013. A monthly summary of important trends and market research, case studies and information about IBM's Linux initiatives of interest to senior management.
Linux News
Jim Wasko, Director, IBM Linux Technology Center, writes about the LTC's purpose, its history and its future in two new blogs.
The US Open—now underway—draws millions of tennis enthusiasts from all over the world for two intense weeks of non-stop world-class tennis action. Brian O'Connell, Software Engineer and Master Inventor, IBM, provides a behind-the-scenes peek at the technology supporting the event in his new blog. Fans are watching events unfold not only at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, but also through an integrated online, mobile and social experience delivering real-time play-by-play action, live video streaming and live match scores and statistics, ensuring that every fan experiences the thrill and excitement on center court.
IBM is advancing its Linux on Power initiative with a new high-performance PowerLinux server as well as new software and middleware applications geared for the growing number of clients embracing big data, analytics and next-generation Java applications in an open cloud environment. The new PowerLinux 7R4 server, built on the same Power Systems platform running IBM's Watson cognitive computing solution, can provide clients the performance required for the new business-critical and data-intensive workloads increasingly deployed in Linux environments.
In a new blog, Andrew Theurer, Senior Software Engineer, IBM Linux Technology Center, examines the SPECvirt sc2013 results achieved by the IBM Flex System x240 server with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.4 with its Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor, and explains how the SPECvirt_sc2013 is different from the SPECvirt _sc2010:
Sean Michael Kerner recently wrote about the significance of the Linux 3.10 kernel being chosen by The Linux Foundation as the next long-term release in an article on the eWeek website.
Google, IBM, Mellanox, NVIDIA and TYAN announced plans to form the OpenPOWER Consortium - an open development alliance based on IBM's POWER microprocessor architecture. The Consortium intends to build advanced server, networking, storage and GPU-acceleration technology aimed at delivering more choice, control and flexibility to developers of next-generation, hyperscale and cloud data centers.
Inside Linux at IBM
Based in Zagreb, Croatia, Altus Information Technologies provides cloud computing and data center services for a variety of clients in many different industries. The company was founded in 2011 as a subsidiary of Markoja d.o.o. and specializes in helping its clients find the right mix of IT infrastructure services to meet their needs—and their budgets. Altus IT needed a flexible, scalable, cloud-computing infrastructure to help broaden its offerings for corporate customers, while also increasing efficiency within its own data center.
Founded in 1793, Bonhams is a privately owned British auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. Bonhams needed a scalable, cost-effective system for remote management and full disaster recovery between its data centers in New York and San Francisco.
Founded in 1991, Brodos AG is one of the leading distributors of telecommunications hardware, software and services in Germany. The company maintains some 5,000 retail outlets, employs around 370 people, and in 2010 achieved revenues of approximately $330 million. However, as Brodos won new customers, the company found that existing IT systems proved unable to scale to meet its workload. This threatened to impact the company's ability to maximize new business opportunities. Brodos consolidated to IBM BladeCenter HS23 servers with Intel Xeon processors, running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with KVM, and an IBM Storwize V7000 Unified disk system. Brodos can scale up the IBM solution quickly and easily to provide for new customers.
A wide-ranging assortment of case studies illustrating how organizations have successfully implemented KVM for business advantage is available.
IBM Enterprise2013 is ideal for business and IT executives as well as IT professionals and practitioners who know that leading in today's global economy requires an IT infrastructure that is efficient, capable of responding quickly to changing market conditions and needs, enables collaboration and informed decisions, and ensures the security, privacy, and availability of company and customer data.
A new video on YouTube spotlights North Carolina State University, one of the largest technical colleges in the Southeast. NCSU uses the PowerLinux platform to manage big data and IBM Content Analytic Studio on the cloud to develop a smarter computing environment that uses the appropriate technologies based on the questions they are trying to answer.
IBM hosts Linux on System z Executive Council meetings in locations across the United States to provide education on Linux on System z. Check back frequently for information about educational opportunities coming to a city near you. Information is also available about Live Virtual Classes for z/VM and Linux.
Registration is open for SUSECon, SUSE's annual global user conference. The event will be held November 12-15, 2013, at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
Established at the end of 2012, Zetark is a specialist provider of cloud-based storage and infrastructure-as-a-service solutions. Zetark was founded to offer hosted data storage services to local and regional businesses of all sizes. As a start-up business, Zetark needed to create a scalable IT infrastructure rapidly and at low cost. Zetark chose IBM PureFlex System with Red Hat Linux, open source KVM virtualization technology, and FileTek StorHouse software to power its new strategic platform for enterprise cloud storage services.
IBM is active on all forms of social media, providing an easy way for customers and partners to stay up to date with the latest Linux and KVM information.
Inside IBM's Linux Partners
The Linux Foundation has announced the schedule and program for LinuxCon and CloudOpen North America with an increased emphasis on technical content, as well as new activities aimed at encouraging newcomer participation that can fuel the future of Linux, open cloud and collaborative development. The combined events take place together in New Orleans, September 16-18, 2013, and IBM is a platinum sponsor of LinuxCon.