“IBM blew some dry ice over its Unix roadmap this week, which
we’re only too happy to blow away again. Big Blue announced NUMA-Q
E-410 servers earlier this week, updating the range it acquired
along with Sequent. But that wasn’t really the problem. No,
it’s the Linux spin which IBM feels obliged to sprinkle on all its
announcements these days that’s the problem.“
“According to Big Blue’s spin paramedics, IBM will add APIs to
its Sequent Unix to allow Linux to “take advantage of such features
as workload management and workload balance”. Juxtaposed alongside
the NUMA-Q servers, it looked to all the world like IBM was putting
NUMA support into the Linux kernel, so NUMA-Q machines would become
gigantic Linux boxes.”
“That isn’t the case, though. Sequent sees its expensive NUMA-Qs
as part of the server consolidation business, hence the ability to
run Windows and Unix at the same time in its NUMACenters. In this
context Linux can already be hosted as just another OS in a mixed
mode configuration on these monsters.”