By John Geralds, VNU
Net
IBM this week announced hardware and software improvements for
Linux running on S/390 mainframes and a new introductory pricing
model.
At the same time, software companies Computer Associates (CA)
and BMC Software released S/390-based management software for the
platform.
IBM has publicly stated its commitment to Linux and this
announcement is likely to let the operating system move even more
deeply into the corporate environment. Since January, Big Blue has
seen some 4000 internet downloads of Linux mainframe software – a
fact which S/390 IT consultant Cliff Laking described as a
“revelation”.
“Customers are highly excited about the potential that Linux
offers them, complementing OS/390 or VME or VSE, because it
potentially brings lots of new applications to the S/390, and gives
the opportunity for customers to develop and deploy ebusiness types
of applications using Linux on the mainframe,” he said.
Customers will now be able to develop newer web-based
applications on mainframes and take advantage of the S/390’s
reliability, availability and security, as well as its fast I/O
technology.
From September, IBM will make available its S/390 integrated
facility for Linux. This will let customers add system capacity to
dedicate to Linux workloads without increasing the charges from IBM
S/390 software on the rest of the server. BMC and CA, as well as
Candle, Compuware and Saga Software, have agreed to this pricing
policy.
Laking said the traditional S/390 pricing model is “not entirely
suitable for the Linux type environment” where the operating system
is free. IBM hopes the new pricing programme will encourage more
users to use Linux on the S/390.
On the software side, the company is adding its new S/390
virtual image facility for Linux. This will allow customers to
install and run hundreds of copies of Linux on one S/390 mainframe
on existing MVS installations. The only other way to install more
than 15 copies of Linux is to use the MV operating system.
“As a result, we can create an indefinite number of virtual
S/390 images each of which runs on a single copy of Linux, and
consolidate them to run on a single machine,” said Laking.
BMC, meanwhile, has released its first S/390-based Linux
management product – the Patrol Agent and Knowledge Module. This
lets customers manage Linux applications on the mainframe, as well
as carry out performance analysis and capacity planning. Patrol
monitors performance and activity to detect problems in the
server.
Mark Rivington, BMC’s product marketing director, said the
company is trying to get ahead of the market with the launch of
this product. He said this new clutch of mainframe offerings will
help Linux to further penetrate the corporate environment because
users will not run an operating system without systems management
software.
Currently most people using Linux on the S/390 are still in the
development phase, he said, adding that BMC hopes to help them
develop mission-critical applications.
CA’s S/390 product set includes its Unicenter TNG Agents and
Framework, which will be available during the third and fourth
quarters of this year. This includes its ARCserve storage
management product and its eTrust security product.