IBM pushes enterprise Linux profit center
The company refuses to be too sexy for its shirt, with a formal, coat-and-tie corporate culture nearly a century old. They don't do many turns on the industry cat walk. They don't go in for big parties.
But IBM defines the enterprise space, still the most profitable niche in computing, and their moves on behalf of open source need more attention. Scouting IBM, using IBM resources and playing IBM's game won't get you on the cover of Time, but it will make you a good living.
Today IBM announced a new set of open source resources for its business partners. ISVs, system integrators and solution providers (that's IBM-speak) can now get immediate access to free technical help as well as sales and marketing support, from a single Web address.
The centerpiece technologies, of course, are IBM's Websphere application server and its DB2 Express tool, which integrates XML and relational databases. These also happen to be the two coolest trends in the Web 2.0 world.
Despite the IBM name, the Websphere application server is a true open source project. It competes directly with RedHat's JBOSS, having been acquired as part of Gluecode in 2005, and it's based on the Apache Geronimo project.
DB2 Express-C is still proprietary, and that's a hitch, but when it becomes a problem for enough people perhaps IBM will change its mind on that. Ask them for me.
What it means, IBM hopes, are more business sales of cool, open source stuff based on its technologies, sold with its participation and help. It's Brooks Brothers, not Armani, but we're also talking about giving you a lot more confidence when you go on a sales call.
And as the late, great Jack Palance said, confidence is very sexy.