IBM to invest 1 billion dollars to drive open source technology such as Linux

http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/17197.html "> Beijing time September 17 morning news, according to the Wall Street Journal online version of the report, IBM plans to invest 1 billion dollars in the next four or five years, Used to develop Linux and other Open-source technologies for Intel Power servers. The power server uses Intel's self-developed power chip technology.

IBM has long been one of the biggest backers of the Linux open source platform, which pledged to invest $1 billion trillion in 2000 to support the development of the technology. At that time, Linux had just begun to gain a foothold in the corporate marketplace, and now it has become the core operating system for many servers, especially those used in the computer rooms of large internet companies such as Google (887.76, 1.31,-0.15%). Currently, most servers use the x86 architecture.

IBM sells x86 architecture servers, but its mainframe and power servers also use Linux systems. The power server, which traditionally uses a custom version of the UNIX operating system, is often adept at handling heavy computing tasks such as running a large database. However, UNIX server sales are decreasing and Linux servers are becoming more popular.

"We will continue to scramble for the UNIX market share, but it is growing faster than the Linux market," said Brad McCredie, vice president of IBM Power Research and development, Brad Mchredy. "Linux helped drive the development of the open source model, which is attractive to enterprise users who need a large number of procurement servers, because they are often available in free form."

It is understood that IBM will spend a large portion of 1 billion dollars on infrastructure and personnel training to help power server users migrate to the Linux platform. To this end, Macready said, IBM will establish a new centre in Montpellier, France. IBM is also planning to launch a cloud computing project, which is to install IBM-managed servers that allow customers to use these servers for free, remotely, and to help create and test Linux applications, as well as other applications based on UNIX and IBM I operating systems.

This August, IBM also announced that it would allow corporate clients to authorize the IBM Power microprocessor design, which is currently used only on IBM's own servers. IBM will officially announce the investment plan at the LINUXCON annual developers ' conference in New Orleans this week.