Enterprise Linux Today: Sun’s Linux Strategy: Judge Deeds, Not Words – and Listen to IBM

“The first new products released by Cobalt since its
acquisition by Sun are still running Linux, but that may not be the
end of the story. IBM thinks Sun’s actions have “let the Linux
genie out of the bottle” and Sun won’t be able to put it back in,
or control it. And at least one IBM exec thinks that IBM’s Linux
strategy is starting to pay off.”

“Last week Sun unveiled an assortment of low end “appliance”
servers — Sun Netras and Cobalt Qubes — with several models
coming in under that magical US$1000 price point that’s regarded as
critical to compete with Intel boxes. For folks in the Linux
community who had been anticipating the announcements, the point of
great potential interest was what Sun would have to say
about its “Linux strategy,” at least regarding the future of Linux
on the Cobalt servers. … Well, in both their prepared statements
and in response to direct questions about Linux, both Sun and
Cobalt management did their very best to say… nothing — at least
nothing of substance.”

“While Sun CEO Scott McNealy once said that “Linux is a great
way to get the wrong answer,” IBM is betting billions — US$1
billion in 2001 alone — that Linux is the right answer,
or at least that it will be by the time IBM is done giving the
kernel team all the AIX code they want and the full effect of IBM’s
in-depth support for Linux across its product line sinks in with
enterprise IT decision makers. I spoke with Tim Dougherty, IBM’s
director of e-business strategy, to find out what IBM had to say
about Sun’s latest move… In Dougherty’s view, Sun’s actions —
purchasing Cobalt and retaining Linux on its products — have let
“let the Linux genie out of the bottle,” and it won’t go back in,
and it isn’t under Sun’s control. “…I think it’s going to be
awfully hard for Sun to continue to say, no matter what the
question is, Solaris and Sparc are the answer.”

“IBM’s latest quarterly results were very impressive,
particularly against the background of a “PC slowdown” that’s been
causing most technology companies to downgrade their forecasts and
come in with earnings well below analysts’ recent estimates. I
asked Dougherty to comment on what role, if any, IBM’s Linux
strategy may have played in the latest financials — “is IBM’s
Linux strategy starting to pay off?” His answer: “…we do think
that’s part of what’s fueling our growth, because the
strategy makes sense — that people buy into the strategy
and therefore buy your products. And it’s not just a one-piece
Linux strategy, it’s a multi-purpose strategy, and we think the
fact that we told the world, for instance, that in our Unix
business, which grew 49% this quarter, that part of the reason for
that is that we’ve told people that Linux is a part of our
strategy…”

Complete
Story