IBM invests $ 1 billion in the development of Linux and open source software on Power Systems servers

During the LinuxCon 2013 conference, IBM announced plans to invest $ 1 billion in new Linux-based solutions, as well as open source technologies for IBM Power Systems servers. With this initiative, corporation customers will be able to reduce the cost of big data processing and cloud computing using modern systems designed to work with the new generation of applications.

IBM also announced the opening of a new Linux client center in Europe. A new Linux innovation center at Power Systems will open in Montpellier, France, and will become the fourth representative of a growing network. The first such center was opened in Beijing in May 2013. The same centers are located in New York and Austin, Texas. Linux Innovation Centers help developers create and deploy new solutions for big data processing, cloud computing, mobile computing, and social business using open source Linux technologies and the latest POWER7 + processor technology.

To help developers, partners, and customers interested in using Linux on Power, IBM will improve Power Systems' cloud application development system. The free cloud service will provide enterprises with an infrastructure for prototyping, developing and testing Linux applications on Power, as well as software solutions for AIX and IBM i.
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These initiatives continue IBM's development strategy for the Linux ecosystem on Power Systems, which supports thousands of open source applications and independent software developers around the world.

IBM Honorary Fellow and Power Development Vice President Brad McCredie (Brad McCredie) announced these initiatives to 1,400 leading solution providers, developers and customer representatives at the annual Linux LinuxCon Foundation in New Orleans. Brad McCredy emphasized that the main investments will be focused on research and development of solutions, as well as help support various aspects of the ecosystem, including the implementation of software products, as well as market entry assistance programs for customers, developers, business partners, entrepreneurs, and research workers. and students.

“Many companies put too much effort into managing big data processing and cloud computing with standard servers using legacy technologies. These servers are overloaded with data, which is why companies buy servers of the same type, which ultimately leads to a total clutter in the data center, said Brad McCready. - The era of big data requires a new approach to the organization of the IT infrastructure of the enterprise. It must be open, flexible and able to handle big data processing and cloud computing workloads. "

“IBM's previous investments have given rise to the development of innovations, which is still in full force today. The Linux community appreciates IBM's contribution to the development of Linux solutions on Power Systems, ”commented Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. “We look forward to the moment when new solutions will appear using Linux on the Power platform, as well as the results of the joint work of vendors and developers in the development of this open architecture.”

Brad McCready also recalled that the IBM Watson cognitive computing system, once the first to win the Jeopardy TV show, uses Power Systems on Linux server solutions, which once again demonstrate how effectively Linux and Power combine to cope with computational loads of the new generation.

The initiatives announced at LinuxCon complement the recent announcement about the creation of the OpenPOWER consortium, whose strategy is to open access to the IBM POWER microprocessor license for other companies in order to collaborate on the development of data center solutions. Thus, IBM first proposed key hardware for use in open source.

About IBM Open Heritage
IBM has been involved in various Open Source projects since 1999, including OpenPOWER, OpenStack, Hadoop, OpenDaylight, KVM, Apache and Eclipse, as well as Linux. Hundreds of IBM programmers and engineers contribute to the creation of open source software as part of a community of global developers.

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