IBM Taps Boom in Linux Growth by Expanding Commitment to Partners, Linux and Open Source15 December 2005
Building upon the company's commitment to Linux
and the Open Source Community, IBM today announced Novell and Red Hat have
been elevated to IBM's Strategic Alliance program -- IBM's highest tier
partner status. The move will make it simpler for clients to acquire open
standards-based Linux hardware, software, and services through integrated
and streamlined sales, distribution and services channels.
Today's announcement includes:
-- Opening significant new channels and access to IBM innovation centers
to Novell and Red Hat, including those in emerging countries like Brazil,
Russia, India, China and Korea to drive more open source deals in those
booming markets.
-- Enhanced New subscription models combining IBM offerings with Novell
and Red Hat solutions.
-- Support by Novell and Red Hat of IBM's open platforms including the
Java-based Apache Geronimo web server and Apache Derby database, and
continued support of the Eclipse development platform.
With today's news, the companies are reinforcing their commitment to the
Java community, which comprises more than six million developers worldwide.
Additionally, the companies will help customers begin to deploy Service
Oriented Architectures (SOA) based on a J2EE application environment. SOA
can give businesses the flexibility to easily integrate information with
custom third-party business process applications regardless of the
underlying technology, freeing clients from relying on any single
information technology vendor.
Today's announcement represents the most significant elevation of IBM's
strategic partnerships with its key Linux Distribution Partners since it
embraced Linux six years ago, a testament to a Linux market that continues
to experience strong growth. According to IT industry firm IDC, the overall
Linux marketplace is growing annually at 26 percent and is expected to
reach $35.7 billion by 2008. [1] IBM now ranks number one in overall
Linux-based server revenue worldwide with 29.7 percent of the revenue, up
32 percent year-to-year, according to Gartner, an industry research firm.
[2]
IBM Business Partners contribute over one third of IBM's Linux revenue. The
ecosystem around these two alliances contributes to IBM's growth and
represents the core of IBM's strategy of offering innovative open standard
solutions that combine open source technology, IBM commercial products, and
IBM's industry expertise. The alliances are timed to tap the boom in IBM's
Linux growth expanding its base of 12,000 enterprise deployments worldwide
in key industries like government, retail, health care and financial
services, as well as emerging global markets.
IBM Embraces Subscription Model for Linux and Open Source
Currently, customers can purchase Linux directly through Linux distributors
like Novell and Red Hat. As part of a tighter alignment between the
companies, IBM is building a new team dedicated to marketing and accepting
orders for Linux subscriptions from Novell and Red Hat. These one and three
year Linux server subscriptions will be available on IBM server hardware,
or with IBM middleware, and IBM Services' SupportLine offerings, providing
support for the Linux operating system running on both IBM and non-IBM
server hardware. The new subscription model is aimed at benefiting IBM's
large enterprise and small and medium business (SMB) clients desiring to
purchase operating system subscriptions and support as part of a more
comprehensive industry-specific solution from IBM.
Builds Industry Momentum for Open Source Technologies
Under the terms of the Strategic Alliance agreement, Novell has agreed to
distribute the Apache Geronimo open source J2EE application server as part
of its SUSE Linux Enterprise Server distribution, which contains more than
1,400 open source software packages. Novell currently includes the Apache
Derby database in SUSE Linux 10.0.
The software provides mid-sized businesses, departments in large
enterprises and Business Partners with easy access to open source-based
technologies with no up-front costs. Red Hat will work with IBM to certify
IBM's version of the Geronimo application server -- WebSphere Community
Edition -- for Red Hat offerings and Red Hat will also support IBM's
efforts to promote Apache Geronimo.
The agreement with Novell for Apache Geronimo and Apache Derby, and
cooperation around these technologies with Red Hat, promises to greatly
increase the volume and acceptance of these technologies and more
importantly will greatly expand the market opportunity for the industry and
deliver value to customers from these open standards and open source
technologies. Combining the Linux distribution strategy with these
additional Apache open source technologies provides a pervasive software
platform which can help Java developers, small and mid-sized businesses
(SMB) and departmental users reduce the complexity of application
development and deployment by pre-integrating the most common services to
build mainstream Java applications.
Novell plans to include Apache Geronimo in its next SUSE Linux Enterprise
Server distribution to be delivered in 2006, and Red Hat will support IBM
in its efforts to promote Apache Geronimo. Both companies have also agreed
to help promote Apache Derby, a Java-based relational database that IBM
contributed to the open source community in August 2004 to help developers
more easily build and deploy applications and workloads that require an
embedded database. Examples of such solutions include small web sites,
point-of-sales systems, local registries and repositories, and small
departmental applications.
"IBM made a big commitment to our customers and our open source strategy
when we told the world we were making a substantial investment in Linux
nearly six years ago. That included partnering with Red Hat and Novell,"
said Mark Elliott, general manager, Global Solution Sales, IBM Sales and
Distribution. "Our customers responded with incredible enthusiasm and today
IBM's Linux business is growing faster than the industry. And that growth
is propelling Novell and Red Hat to the top tier of IBM's strategic
alliance partners."
"Novell has led the industry in cross platform support for IBM server
platforms," said Ron Hovsepian, president and chief operating officer of
Novell. "SUSE Linux Enterprise Server runs across the full range of IBM
platforms, from Intel and AMD-based servers to POWER PC up to the
mainframe, and we have an active technology and go-to-market and sales
partnership with IBM. This announcement further deepens that relationship,
and marks another aggressive step forward for Novell and IBM in driving
Linux into enterprise environments."
"Red Hat is pleased to be expanding our partnership with IBM in ways that
will benefit both large enterprise and SMB customers," said Tim Yeaton,
senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing at Red Hat. "In addition,
IBM's development of a dedicated sales channel and commitment to market and
accept orders for our platform will broaden the reach of Red Hat Enterprise
Linux and further our leadership position in the open source marketplace."
[1] IDC
[2] Gartner Quarterly Statistics, Server Market 3Q05.
About IBM:
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of
leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across
IBM and key business partners, IBM offers a wide range of services,
solutions and technologies that enable companies to take full advantage of
the on demand era. For more information about IBM, visit
http://www.ibm.com
About Novell:
Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) delivers Software for the Open Enterprise*.
With more than 50,000 customers in 43 countries, Novell helps customers
manage, simplify, secure and integrate their technology environments by
leveraging best-of-breed, open standards-based software. With over 20 years
of experience, more than 5,000 employees, 5,000 partners and support
centers around the world, Novell helps customers gain control over their IT
operating environment while reducing cost. More information about Novell
can be found at http://www.novell.com.
About Red Hat, Inc.:
Red Hat, the world's leading open source and Linux provider, is
headquartered in Raleigh, NC with satellite offices spanning the globe. Red
Hat is leading Linux and open source solutions into the mainstream by
making high quality, low cost technology accessible. Red Hat provides
operating system software along with middleware, applications and
management solutions. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting
services to its customers worldwide and through top-tier partnerships. Red
Hat's open source strategy offers customers a long-term plan for building
infrastructures that are based on and leverage open source technologies
with focus on security and ease of management. Learn more:
http://www.redhat.com
Contacts:
John Charlson
IBM Media Relations
IBM Systems and Technology Group
(W) 914-766-4628
charlson@us.ibm.com
Bruce Lowry
Director, Global Public Relations
blowry@novell.com
(W) 415-383-8408
Novell, Inc.
Software for the Open Enterprise
www.novell.com/open
Leigh Day
Corporate Communications
Red Hat
(W) 919-754-3700
lday@redhat.com
SOURCE: IBM
Source: marketwire
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
Related Computer Hardware Articles
|
