The Linux Executive Report from IBM
December 2, 2015
The Linux Executive Report from IBM: December 2, 2015. 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
Analyst Alan Radding recently posted an article about IBM's recent POWER- based systems news, including IBM's multi-year strategic collaboration with Xilinx, and OpenPOWER Foundation members' new technologies, collaborations and developer resources.
IBM and fellow OpenPOWER Foundation members have revealed new technologies, collaborations, and developer resources to enable clients to analyze data faster and more deeply. The new offerings center on the tight integration through CAPI (Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface) of IBM's open and licensable POWER processors with accelerators that can be optimized for computationally intensive software code.
IBM and Xilinx have formed a multi-year strategic collaboration to enable higher performance and energy-efficient data center applications through Xilinx FPGA-enabled workload acceleration on IBM POWER-based systems. IBM and Xilinx, through a private signed agreement and collaboration through the OpenPOWER Foundation, are teaming to develop open acceleration infrastructures, software and middleware to address emerging applications such as machine learning, network functions virtualization (NFV), genomics, high performance computing (HPC) and big data analytics.
Cloud represents a sea change in the way that developers work, increasing productivity and decreasing cost, while also providing more flexibility that encourages innovation anywhere, at any time.To further support this flexibility, IBM has launched developerWorks Premium, a subscription model of its developerWorks community that provides developers with exclusive, member-only curated tools and resources for IBM Cloud.
IBM Fellow Donna Dillenberger's demonstration of the IBM LinuxONE system for scalable financial trading has racked up more than 140,000 views.
Linux on IBM z Systems can offer customers cost savings, in addition to levels of security, and scalability not available with other platforms.
In a new post on the Ptak Associates Tech Blog site, Rich Ptak and Bill Moran weigh in on the technology acceleration announcements by IBM and other OpenPOWER Foundation members.
In August 2015, IBM unveiled two Linux mainframe servers - called LinuxONE - that are designed for the new application economy and hybrid cloud era. With LinuxONE, IBM also introduced a flexible new pricing model.
In a new article on the Anandtech website, Johan De Gelas explains how the IBM POWER8 is challenging the Intel Xeon.
Inside Linux at IBM
Linux on IBM z Systems provides high levels of performance, scalability and security. A rich open source ecosystem is growing on the platform—from Node.js to MongoDB to Docker—which combines with IBM z's speed and other unique features to deliver business agility—the ability of an organization to get to market quickly and effectively in order to solve the business problems it faces.
IBM LinuxONE is a portfolio of hardware, software and services solutions for an enterprise grade Linux environment. IBM LinuxONE brings together the flexibility and agility of the open revolution with the industry's most advanced, trusted and performance enterprise system.
IBM Spectrum Scale, based on IBM GPFS technology, is a high performance shared-disk file management solution that provides fast, reliable access to data from multiple nodes in a cluster environment.
A new video demonstrates how the combined power of Linux, IBM z Systems, the hybrid cloud, and IBM Cloud Manager with OpenStack enhance the benefits of each part to provide the most powerful and reliable enterprise solution.
A new data sheet summarizes the value of deploying the PeopleSoft Enterprise applications on the IBM Mainframe running Oracle Database. An architectural diagram is included.
The IBM LinuxONE channel is expanding to meet global demands and address the increasing growth and requirements of Linux in the market. IBM Business Partners that are looking to add LinuxONE to their sales portfolio can get started today.
This blog provides a terrific developer resource focused on topics on container technology and its use in Linux on the mainframe.
IBM LinuxONE provides a portfolio of hardware, software, and services that combine the flexibility and agility of the open revolution with the industry's most advanced trusted, efficient and performant enterprise system for business critical applications. An increased emphasis on mobile, big data, and cloud is not only in sync with new industry trends it also responds to client demands for greater reliability, security, performance, and cost savings.
KVM for IBM z Systems provides open source virtualization for the IBM mainframe. Using a combination of KVM virtualization and IBM z Systems provides the performance and flexibility to address the requirements of multiple, differing Linux workloads.
Open source software brings a broad set of new capabilities to LinuxONE and z Systems in the form of more solutions that are optimized for use on an enterprise-grade platform that leverages inherent strengths—speed combined with ultra-security application uptime, limitless capacity for growth, in addition to an inventive and collaborative ecosystem of developers and practitioners - all of which gives enterprises an important edge in improving their business agility.
Using Linux containers and Docker radically changes the way applications are built, shipped, deployed and instantiated. A new IBM white paper explains how using Docker, IBM UrbanCode Deploy or Linux on IBM z Systems can help you quickly develop cloud-centric applications or micro services.
IBM has announced the XL C/C++ Linux on z Systems V1.2. The update delivers significant execution performance improvement over GCC with advanced optimization technology, enabling users to exploit z/Architectures (z10, z196, zEC12, z13) and increase overall platform competitiveness.
Inside IBM's Linux Partners
Working with Red Hat, IBM continues to expand the new IBM POWER8 systems hardware and features. IBM's latest linkage with Red Hat revolves around the new IBM Power System LC family of servers, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2.
Red Hat has shared the results of a recent mobile maturity survey which revealed that 90% of respondents anticipate increasing investment in mobile application development within the next 12 months. The 2015 Red Hat mobile maturity survey also finds that these same respondents predict their organization's investment for mobile application development increasing at an average growth rate of 24% during the same period.
Do you need fast and effective systems of engagement with enterprise-class scalability? A new on-demand webcast presented by a panel of experts, including Roger Levy, VP Product Management, MariaDB; Chuck Bryan, Global Power Growth Solutions Leader, IBM; and Antonio Rosales, Engineering Manager, Canonical, looks at how to deploy a scalable enterprise solution quickly with MariaDB, Ubuntu, and the latest IBM POWER8 servers.
Red Hat has announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2, the newest release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7. New features and capabilities focus on security, networking, and system administration, along with a continued emphasis on enterprise-ready tooling for the development and deployment of Linux container-based applications.
Linux and KVM Events
With the confluence of disruptive new forces, including big data, cloud, high performance computing, and new engagement technologies, organizations must innovate in terms of how they build their infrastructure, Doug Balog, General Manager, IBM Power Systems, emphasized in his keynote at Red Hat Summit 2015.
The dates of next year's Red Hat Summit have been announced. The 12th annual Red Hat Summit will take place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco from June 28-July 1, 2016.
The history between SUSE and the IBM mainframe goes back more than 15 years, observed Michael Miller, SUSE's Vice President of Global Alliances, Marketing and Product Management, and Ross Mauri, General Manager, IBM z Systems, during a keynote conversation at SUSECon 2015.
The Linux Foundation has posted the dates and locations for all upcoming Linux Foundation and Managed Events in 2016.
Delivering the opening keynotes at LinuxCon North America for IBM, a Diamond Sponsor of the event, Dr. Angel Diaz, Vice President, Cloud Architecture and Technology, IBM, and Ross Mauri, General Manager of z Systems, IBM, reflected on the change taking place in the IT world.
Linux and KVM Success Stories
Seismic data processor Earth Signal has deployed IBM Power Systems S822L servers with IBM POWER8 CPUs running Linux to maximize core- and thread-count within the physical limits of its data center, enabling extremely fast delivery of seismic results to industry clients and 20 times greater server density.
Italian software developer Foedus has created OCTOBUS ERP optimized for IBM Power Systems running Linux. Foedus chose IBM Power System S812L and S822L servers running Linux and MariaDB database software as the foundation for its new version of OCTOBUS.
Without the ability to adapt quickly to changing fashion trends, major shoe retailer HR Group risked carrying unsold and discounted stock. HR Group migrated to SAP HANA on IBM Power Systems for SAP Business Warehouse, taking advantage of the latest IBM POWER8 technology and centralized IBM Storwize V5000 storage
Located in Argentina's capital city of Buenos Aires, the Instituto de Tecnologia ORT has been partnering with IBM and the Power Systems Academic Initiative (PSAI) to help deliver post-secondary education to students in the Digital Electronics for Industrial Automation program. Specifically, they are currently taking advantage of courseware and the Power Systems Academic Cloud to teach its Multitasking Operating Systems course, a core requirement of the program.
A new video explains how outstanding customer experiences demand waitless virtualization, cloud and analytics. Backed by Linux on POWER8, ZTEsoft clients can process 35,000 transactions per second with ease in virtualized cloud environments.
Almost all the opportunities that Key Information Systems Inc. (KeyInfo) is working on today, as well as the conversations it is having with clients, are in relation to hybrid cloud deployments.
LSU has collaborated with IBM to deploy a powerful supercomputer named Delta to advance big data research in Louisiana. The name references both the Mississippi delta region and the use of the term in the sciences to mean "change."
Mizuho Bank, Ltd. needed to transform its online and mobile banking systems while decreasing IT costs. With the help of IBM, Mizuho updated online and mobile applications, keeping user satisfaction high and expanding its online presence by gaining scalability and sustainability while reducing overall costs.
Site Ox is rolling out new IBM Power Systems POWER8 processor-based systems that will support both big-endian or little-endian operating systems on the same physical hardware, creating new opportunities for consolidation.
Meeting service-level agreements (SLAs) hinges on server reliability, uptime and manageability. IBM LinuxONE and IBM z solutions provide a flexible yet powerful infrastructure that helps ensure that your business receives the performance, reliability and processing power it needs to address increasingly sophisticated and demanding application requirements.