The Linux Executive Report from IBM
June 26, 2013
The Linux Executive Report from IBM: June 26, 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
IBM announced new initiatives to further support and speed up the adoption of the Linux operating system across the enterprise. These include two new Power Systems Linux Centers, as well as plans to extend support for Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) technology to its Power Systems portfolio of server products. The announcements were made by Arvind Krishna, GM Development and Manufacturing, IBM STG, during his June 11 keynote address at the Red Hat Summit in Boston.
IBM has formed a definitive agreement to acquire SoftLayer Technologies, Inc., a privately held cloud computing infrastructure provider. IBM is acquiring SoftLayer to make it easier and faster for clients around the world to incorporate cloud computing by combining the speed and simplicity of SoftLayer's public cloud services with the enterprise grade reliability, security and openness of the IBM SmartCloud portfolio. SoftLayer accelerates IBM's ability to integrate public and private clouds for its clients, with flexibility that provides deployment options that enable a faster, broader transformation for small, medium and large businesses with a range of performance and security models.
In a new blog, Jean Staten Healy, Director, Worldwide Linux and Open Virtualization, IBM, reflects on the latest Red Hat Summit held earlier this month in Boston. "As I left the conference this year, I was struck by the thought that something was very different," she writes. "Whether customers are discussing the use of KVM in the cloud, or adding it as a second hypervisor for 'hyperdiversity,' the debate about whether KVM is technically ready is now over. It has achieved impressive SPECvirt and TPC-C benchmarks, security certifications, and according to IDC, is showing impressive growth in unit shipments. We are no longer explaining what KVM is. Instead, this year, we were able to show a robust portfolio of clients that have realized success with KVM. The conversation around KVM has changed."
The advantages provided by KVM for cloud deployments are explored in a new blog by Jean Staten Healy, Director, Worldwide Linux and Open Virtualization, IBM: "Just a few years ago, many enterprise customers predicted they would never use cloud computing because it was too risky. Fast forward, and today the picture is a stark contrast. Compelling economic advantages have trumped all other concerns. Worldwide revenue from public IT cloud services, which exceeded $21.5 billion in 2010, will skyrocket to $72.9 billion in 2015, representing a compound annual growth rate of 27.6% - four times the projected growth for the worldwide IT market as a whole, according to IDC cloud research."
Red Hat announced the availability of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.2, with fully supported Storage Live Migration and a new third-party plug-in framework. Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.2 is designed to meet an increasing industry need for open virtualization solutions without compromising performance, scalability, security or features, and is also an essential component of Red Hat Cloud Infrastructure, which combines the traditional data center virtualization features provided by Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, cloud-enabled infrastructure provided by Red Hat OpenStack, and hybrid cloud management provided by Red Hat CloudForms, to deliver a comprehensive open hybrid cloud solution.
At the Red Hat Summit, Red Hat marked major milestones for its Red Hat OpenStack partner ecosystem. The Red Hat OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure Partner Network has moved from its early adopter project phase and now counts more than 100 global technology industry leaders as members.
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.
In the June issue of Smarter Computing magazine, Angel Luis Diaz, vice president, Software and Standards, IBM Cloud Labs is interviewed about IBM's embrace of open standards and open source - including the latest step in its longstanding commitment - helping to launch the OpenStack Foundation. "IBM is building its entire cloud portfolio on open source and open standards," Diaz says, explaining that "OpenStack allows you to use the heart of cloud - IaaS - to drive innovation and interoperability."
Wind River, a leader in embedded and mobile software, has developed Wind River Open Virtualization Profile to deliver high performance, open source, real-time kernel virtualization technologies for next-generation telecommunications equipment as well as network functions virtualization (NFV) and cloud advancements.
he June 2013 Top500 supercomputer list has been released, showing that 476 of the top 500 fastest supercomputers in the world run Linux, writes ZDNet contributing editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols in a recent article. According to Vaughn-Nichols, in terms of the "highest of high-end computing, Linux rules" and underscoring the point, "the top 10 fastest supercomputers all run Linux of one sort or the other."
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.
A wide-ranging assortment of case studies illustrating how organizations have successfully implemented KVM for business advantage is available.
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.
In a new blog, Jean Staten Healy, Director, Worldwide Linux and Open Virtualization, IBM, observes that open source hypervisor KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is gaining ground in the enterprise. According to Staten Healy, the trajectory of enterprise adoption of KVM is reminiscent of the early days of Linux since organizations, by now familiar with server virtualization, are evaluating not only hypervisors from the current market leaders but also open source approaches.
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.
White papers from IBM and analyst companies on topics related to Linux and KVM are available for download.
Inside IBM's Linux Partners
The Linux Foundation 2013 event and co-located Linux training schedule includes Linux events worldwide and co-located Linux training opportunities, answering the global demand for technical Linux content, knowledge and collaboration. Go here for the complete list of 2013 events and training opportunities.
The Linux Professional Institute, a Linux certification organization, has completed a review and update of the exam objectives for its LPIC-2 and LPIC-3 certification programs. The new exams for LPIC-2 will be available November 1, 2013 in English and LPIC-3 will be available October 1, 2013 in English. Other language for both certification programs TBA.