“It’s been a year and a half since IBM welcomed Linux onto its
computers and a few months since it announced Linux would spread
across the entire server line. Now, IBM wants to have a place in
the nascent movement to spread Linux to small electronic devices,
the head of IBM’s Linux efforts said.”
“We have a whole suite of (software) that will run on tiny
little things,” said Irving Wladawsky-Berger, vice president of
technology and strategy at IBM. But while companies such as Lineo,
I-Logix, LynuxWorks and MontaVista work on bringing the core of
Linux to these gadgets, IBM will focus on higher-level software
such as components for Sun Microsystems’ Java, IBM’s DB2 database
software or IBM’s Websphere e-commerce software.”
“…In the meantime, however, IBM shares the belief with
Dell Computer, Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard and most Linux
sellers that Linux is best for servers, the networked computers
that run Web sites, send email and manage corporate inventory. IBM
today announced one such deal, in which the Weather Channel’s
Weather.com site is replacing Sun servers with IBM Intel-based
servers to send out Web pages.“
“Sun servers, however, will remain in use in the back end of the
Weather.com site, where computing demands are higher, he said.”