“IBM Japan Ltd. said May 17 that it is including Linux as an
official operating system for use with its S/390 mainframe
computers and also it would offer user support for Linux
operations. IBM Japan’s move forms a part of U.S.-based IBM Corp.’s
strategy to strengthen its Linux-related operations.”
“Also, the company said it would set up a new unit, the Linux
promotion department, specifically to handle Linux-related matters,
as of June 1. It is planned to make Linux to play a bigger role in
the organization. And it announced that by the end of the year it
would increase the number of specialist Linux engineers from the
current 150 to 300.”
“IBM Japan says it now intends to recruit 600 new university
and graduate-school graduates to start work in April 2001, rather
than 500 earlier planned. The extra 100 recruits will all have had
experience with Linux during their study years, so the company
expects them to be knowledgeable on the Linux environment, Otoshi
said.”