“But beneath the rebranding exercise, there is also a
fundamental consolidation of Big Blue’s server technologies going
on. This, believe analysts, could point to a more strategic
repositioning of IBM as part of its battle with the likes of Sun
Microsystems, Hewlett Packard and Compaq on the hardware front, and
Microsoft on the operating system side.”
“Industry watchers are also suggesting that, in some senses, the
move marks a return to IBM’s yesteryear ethos of providing
customers with a one-stop shop that can cover all their needs – but
this time, with an ecommerce twist….”
“IBM is also enthusiastically endorsing Linux as part of the
initiative, in a move presumably intended to dent the ecommerce
ambitions of Bill Gates and Microsoft by encouraging the spread of
open Unix.“