By Paddy Carter, VNU
Net
Project Monterey, IBM’s next-generation Unix operating system,
which supports Linux applications and runs on Intel’s 64bit
processors (IA-64), will be released this year under the name AIX
5L.
The announcement comes a week after Monterey’s future had been
thrown into doubt by Caldera’s acquisition of SCO, its Monterey
development partner.
AIX 5L is optimised to run on both IA-64 and the Power4 Risc
processors used in the Regatta line of servers that IBM will launch
next year.
Hewlett Packard (HP) has also announced that it will launch
Linux Runtime Environment for HP-UX next year, which will allow
Linux applications to run on HP-UX without the need to recompile.
HP also said it will add support for Suse, Turbo Linux and Caldera
Linux versions to its commercial PC and server lines.
Phil Dawson, Unix analyst at MetaGroup, said the
announcements aimed to attract the developer community and take
Linux into the high end Unix market. “Linux is still too immature
for the data centre,” he said.
AIX 5L is expected to ship this year, but Linux support will not
be available until an interim update – version 5.1 – is shipped in
the first half of next year. Linux applications will have to be
recompiled for AIX 5L.
IBM is also planning full binary compatibility and common system
management.
According to analyst IDC, SCO has a 37 per cent share of the
Unix market in terms of server licences sold, compared with Sun
Microsystem’s 22 per cent. With IBM’s 13.5 per cent share, Monterey
could represent the largest Unix flavour in terms of operating
system shipments.
[ First published in Computer Reseller News ]