The Linux Executive Report from IBM
September 24, 2014
The Linux Executive Report from IBM: September 24, 2014. 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
The Linux Foundation is launching a new conference to bring together the world's leading developers in filesystems and storage in the Linux kernel with related projects to collaborate on continued innovation and education in this important space. "Vault" will take place March 11-12, 2015, at the Revere Hotel in Boston, MA
A new IBM blog by Adam Jollans, Program Director, Cross-IBM Linux Strategy, IBM explains how new workload demands and greater hardware heterogeneity are placing Linux at the heart of IT innovation. Linux used to be the commodity play, doing the same for less to help improve the bottom line, Jollans notes. But today, more than ever, Linux not only offers a price advantage but is a major force fueling innovation. That is why IBM continues to vigorously support Linux.
Mayo Clinic and IBM are planning to use a specially designed version of Watson, the IBM's Linux-powered cognitive computer, to match patients more quickly with appropriate clinical trials. A proof-of-concept phase is currently underway, with the intent to introduce it into clinical use in early 2015.
A new IBM research report provides a performance comparison of virtual machines, specifically KVM, and Linux containers, specifically Docker. As expected, Linux containers offer less overhead than full virtualization with KVM, but the difference is surprisingly small in many cases especially for CPU and memory-intensive workloads.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.11, the final minor release of the mature Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Platform, is now available. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.11 reiterates Red Hat's commitment to a 10-year product lifecycle for all major Red Hat Enterprise Linux releases and offers a secure, stable, and reliable platform for critical enterprise applications.
Inside IBM's Linux Partners
A new virtual appliance for Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform enables organizations with VMware-based infrastructures to easily deploy and evaluate Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform for proof-of-concept deployments. Designed to meet growing interest in Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform from users, Open Virtual Appliance for Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform is designed to enable users to have a working deployment of OpenStack in minutes.
The Attachmate Group a privately-held software holding company owned by an investment group led by Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital, Elliott Management and Thoma Bravo, has entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Micro Focus. The principal holdings of the Attachmate Group are Principal holdings include SUSE, Novell, Attachmate, and NetIQ.
Linux and KVM Events
KVM is an industry leading open source hypervisor that provides an ideal platform for data center virtualization, virtual desktop infrastructure, and cloud computing.
LinuxCon Europe is the place to learn from the best and the brightest, delivering content from the leading maintainers, developers and project leads in the Linux community and from around the world.
Registration is open for the OpenStack Summit, which will be held in Paris, November 3-7.
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.
With sessions that are consistently rated as excellent in the annual attendee survey, and recognized as the highlight of the conference, SUSECon presents content from SUSE employees, customers, partners and other contributors.
Linux and KVM Success Stories
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.