Has the Linux 'dream machine' arrived? Part II

"There's a plan for Linux compatibility on the AS/400," said Miles Barel, program director of Unix brand marketing for IBM's Enterprise Systems Group. "There will be both interoperability and application compatibility aspects." He declined to offer further details.

Barel said IBM has a three-pronged Linux strategy across all of its platforms.

It is making certain there will be a common Linux application environment across its servers, meaning it will provide a set of libraries and interfaces that will allow core Linux applications to be compiled for different hardware/software platforms.

Contributing to open source

IBM also is contributing some of its AIX Unix technologies, such as its journaling filing system, to the open-source process.

The company is considering adding others in the areas of cluster technology, SMP scalability, systems management and security, as well, Barel said.

Finally, IBM is focusing on making sure all its development tools and core applications are ported to Linux

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