Michael Dolan Dot Com

Thursday, August 2nd, 2007

LinuxInsider: “IBM Turns a Brighter Shade of Green With Linux Mainframe Switch”

This is BIG news; 30 System z mainframes replacing just shy of 4,000 server! A large chunk of IBM’s own infrastructure is going to Linux – yes Linux, not z/OS, Linux. I find this very exciting b/c it shows just how much value the IBM Systems platforms bring to Linux, and Linux brings to IBM. By embracing Linux, IBM has turned it into a game changing platform for customer (and it’s own) solutions, rather than spend marketing dollars trying to point out flaws. Can we call this the largest Linux migration ever? Maybe not, I think we have some ex-Sun customers who have topped it. However, saving enough electricity to power a small town – very cool.

IBM will save enough electricity “to power a small town,” the company said, with its new initiative of replacing 3,900 computer servers in its datacenters with 30 System z mainframes running Linux, for an expected energy reduction of 80 percent over the next five years. This represents one of the most significant transformations in a generation for IBM’s datacenters.