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The IBM Linux Server

IBM released the first mainframe computer system that uses Linux as its operating system. In fact, they now have an entire line of computers that uses only Linux as its OS. This might mark a revolution both for IBM and for the growth of Linux.

Have you seen the commercial where the stupid looking executives are hunting around a computer room for the servers? Where are the servers? Then the smart looking geek comes in and points to a single rack mount server and explains that he’s replaced the entire computer room with that one Linux server.

The concept sounds good and works to a certain degree. IBM’s mainframes do have the computational power of many smaller servers. For large companies there can be a savings by replacing racks of PC based servers with more powerful ones. These faster machines will still generally have a single administrator, saving on staff costs.

There seems to be an idea pushed that the young geek who managed the Linux PC based server can step up and manage the IBM mainframe. That is not exactly true. The hardware on the mainframe is different and substantial training is necessary to get the young geek ready for the world of mainframes.

Another issue is the network interface. No matter how fast the computer can do calculations there is a limit to how much data can go in and out of one network card. Of course these new servers can be outfitted with multiple interfaces but the problem can still remain. There are potential bottlenecks in this scenario.

Further there is the Microsoft factor. No Linux program has been able to match the business functionality of the Microsoft Exchange email server. Linked with the wildly popular Microsoft Office productivity suite, this is a functionality you lose if you replace the Microsoft server with a Linux server.

Still, it is interesting that business might actually be considering a viable alternative to Microsoft. A viable alternative that runs on much more scalable hardware.

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Shmuel Protter
investmenttool.com

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