The Linux Executive Report from IBM
March 25, 2015
The Linux Executive Report from IBM: March 25, 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
IBM supports Linux on every Power System it makes, and the OpenPOWER Foundation makes POWER-based hardware and software available for development of custom open servers and components for Linux-based cloud data centers, observes Doug Balog, General Manager, IBM Power Systems, in a new blog post. IBM has also made a $1 billion investment in Linux and open source technologies for Power Systems and operates five IBM Power Systems Linux Centers around the world to support development of new applications for cloud, big data analytics, mobile and social business.
One of the most sophisticated computer systems ever built, the new z13 mainframe from IBM delivers scale and economics together with real-time encryption and analytics to help meet the expectations of consumers for speed and safety for trillions of transactions in the mobile economy. The z13 system culminates a $1 billion investment, 5 years of development, exploits the innovation of more than 500 new patents, and is the result of collaboration with more than 60 clients.
The rise of open cloud platforms is driving the need for Linux expertise, and recruiters are increasing efforts to hire Linux talent, according to the 2015 Linux Jobs Report, which forecasts the Linux job market.
Technology giants Google, IBM, Rackspace, and Suzhou PowerCore joined more than 100 other organizations at the OpenPOWER Summit to unveil new hardware solutions. The hardware innovations span systems, boards, and cards, and a new microprocessor customized for China. Built by OpenPower members, the new solutions leverage the POWER architecture to provide more choice, customization, and performance to customers, including hyperscale data centers.
SoftLayer will offer OpenPOWER-based servers as part of its portfolio of cloud-based services. With the new offering, clients will be able to select OpenPOWER-based "bare metal" servers when configuring their cloud-based IT infrastructure from SoftLayer, an IBM company. The servers were developed to help clients better manage data-intensive workloads on public and private clouds.
The Linux Foundation has released its 2015 report, titled "Linux Kernel Development: How Fast It is Going, Who is Doing It, What They Are Doing and Who is Sponsoring It."
Inside Linux at IBM
IBM received a record 7,534 patents in 2014 - marking the 22nd consecutive year that the company topped the annual list of U.S. patent recipients. IBM inventors earned an average of more than 20 patents per day in 2014, leading the company to become the first to surpass more than 7,000 patents in a single year.
Inside IBM's Linux Partners
Red Hat has announced the general availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1, the first minor release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7, which launched in June 2014. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 offers improved development and deployment tools, enhanced interoperability and manageability, and additional security and performance features.
SUSE and Veristorm have formed a partnership to improve big data intelligence gathering by providing certified high-performance Hadoop solutions that run directly on Linux on IBM Power Systems, IBM z Systems, and x86-64. The initiative will help their existing hardware systems to effectively process growing amounts of data to make better business decisions.
Linux and KVM Events
At Edge2015 - The Infrastructure Innovation Conference, you will experience a multifaceted event culminating in a best-in-class Executive Summit and three Technical Universities: Storage Systems, z Systems, and Power Systems. Business luminaries will share best practices on how they have used new technologies, like mobile, to target new customers to create new revenue streams or how they created more secure environments for themselves and their customers. Registration is now open for Edge2015, which will be held May 11-15, 2015, at The Venetian in Las Vegas.
The Linux Foundation is launching a new event in 2015 dedicated to bringing together leading developers and contributors of Linux containers with the Linux kernel developer community. The event called ContainerCon will be co-located with LinuxCon + CloudOpen North America in Seattle, August 17-19, 2015.
LinuxCon Japan presented by The Linux Foundation is the premiere Linux conference in Asia that brings together a unique blend of core developers, administrators, users, community managers and industry experts.
Red Hat Summit brings together thought leaders and executives from across the technology industry to participate in keynotes and sessions on community, innovation, collaboration and customer success. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with Red Hat product teams, hear from expert users at leading customer and partner companies, get hands-on training and learn best practices and strategies for innovation and success.
The Linux Foundation has announced its 2015 events schedule, which includes LinuxCon and CloudOpen in North America and Europe, the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, Embedded Linux Conference, Android Builders Summit and ApacheCon, as well as new events for 2015, open source storage and filesystems conference, Vault, and ContainerCon, focused on the rapidly expanding container industry.
Linux and KVM Success Stories
According to an article in CIO Journal by Steven Norton, in an effort to lower software costs and become more agile, Avis Budget Group Inc. will run open-source Linux software over its IBM mainframe. Avis is using an integrated facility for Linux (IFL), "essentially a processor that runs Linux workloads on an IBM mainframe," writes Norton.
Whether your business provides big data and analytics to others, or you use big data and analytics to enhance your own products, research and marketing, it is necessary to have a fast, efficient and reliable infrastructure and architecture.
In 2013, Bon Ton Stores invested in upgrading IT, continuing to update and expand its eCommerce sites, and launching a new mobile site supporting delivery of promotions and online purchasing.
Challenged to do more with less, Dundee City Council identified IT as an area in which it could cut costs. The council consolidated its Oracle Database environment supporting critical services from distributed servers to an IBM zEnterprise BC12 platform, dramatically improving efficiency.
EVERTEC, Inc., based in Puerto Rico, offers a comprehensive suite of services for core bank processing, cash processing and technology outsourcing. EVERTEC relies on IBM zEnterprise EC12 system running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for System z to support key financial systems and Oracle databases.
IBM Enterprise Linux Server (ELS) can help save software licensing costs, while consolidating different kinds of workloads onto a single server, supporting CIOs in their today's budget challenges. ELS also helps to overcome server sprawl, by requiring less physical servers, less floor space, less energy, with increased flexibility due to IBM z/VM virtualization and simplified management based on IBM Wave for z/VM.
IBM Research and SCA are partnering to create a shared service cloud for the municipalities of New York that is predicted to eliminate 25% of government's IT budget by streamlining applications and connecting siloed municipalities. The IBM mainframe is the platform that New York trusts to host that cloud. In addition to its time-tested scalability, reliability and security, it offers the lowest total cost of ownership — supporting the state as it strives for reduced spending and a smarter, future-ready IT infrastructure.
IBM Business Partner L3C LLP focuses on three ways to help businesses across the UK increase profitability and reduce costs: consultancy, managed services and complementary IT resources. L3C deployed IBM System z servers running Linux to provide companies of any size — including small, midsized and very large enterprises — with scalable, cost-effective, high-performance cloud services.
Government agencies in the U.S., China, and France are improving the lives of their constituents through increased transparency, robust services, and 24x7 access. And while they each differ in their approach to civic governance, they all have one thing in common: the IBM mainframe is their core infrastructure platform.
Although big data promises to dramatically alter the business environment, technology is only a decision enabler.
IBM designed the Enterprise Linux Server from the ground up to add real business value without increasing IT costs. The Enterprise Linux Server's integrated combination of industry leading server and virtualization technologies provide a simple, efficient and trusted infrastructure foundation for businesses with growing Linux workloads.