“With the date-change bug a memory, partners are looking to
Linux to provide the next mainframe boost. The reasoning is that
traditional mainframe shops will take to Linux on the mainframe as
a means for consolidating Unix servers, solutions providers say.
Linux also may expand the mainframe market, luring customers who
have never before purchased the big boxes.”
“We can open it up to people who would have thrown us out two
years ago,” says Eric Vaughan, president and CEO of IntelliWare
Systems Inc., an IBM business partner.”
“We’ve had a fairly static [customer] base over the years,” says
Vaughan. “But with Linux, we might actually see people who
[previously] have not chosen mainframes before consolidate and move
to the mainframe environment.”