The new marketing approach of IBM includes deeper involvement with other open source projects, a monthly subscription pricing model, participating in the newly launched Open Mainframe Project, and contributing a huge cache of mainframe code to open source. LinuxONE Emperor runs on a remodelled IBM z13, with the Rockhopper coming in a much smaller form targeted at entry-level mainframe buyers.
Altogether, IBM is trying to make the mainframe a more relevant computer for a broader variety of businesses, and put it in the center of trends like big data and mobile computing.
On Monday, 17 August, 2015, tech company worldwide Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM) proudly announced that, it is launching Linux-only mainframe servers, named as “LinuxONE“.
IBM also announced what it calls the new “Open Mainframe Project“, formed by the Linux Foundation.
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IBM LinuxONE brings together the flexibility and agility of the open revolution with the industry’s most advanced, trusted and performance enterprise system.”
“KVM for IBM z Systems will help attract new Linux workloads to the mainframe and skilled x86 administrators who can now more easily explore the potential of Linux on the mainframe”.
TechCrunch notes that Emperor and Rockhopper are names of penguins (the popular Linux mascot is a penguin). IBM generally closes 10-20 mainframe customers a quarter, according to Ross Mauri, general manager for IBM systems. IBM is creating the LinuxONE Developer Cloud to provide open access to the development community. Providing an all-Linux offering supported by a worldwide developer community is what Gillen considers to be the best way for the company to expand the mainframe’s appeal. “Building on the success of Linux on the mainframe, we continue to push the limits beyond the capabilities of commodity servers that are not designed for security and performance at extreme scale”, Rosamilia said. “As a leader in management tools for Linux platforms both on, and off, the mainframe, we are committed to investing in mainframe innovations that are secure, reliable and cost-effective”. The company will also join a new cohort of less than a dozen government, academic and corporate entities in an initiative called Open Mainframe Project. That code can be used by developers to build similar sense-and-respond resiliency capabilities on other systems.
Angel Diaz, VP of cloud architecture and technology for IBM, said code being donated includes the technology that IBM created to identify mainframe issues that help prevent failures before they happen.
