IBM & Linux

Team BlackKeith Burgess Khaled Elamrawi Gopal Ganesan Greg Hinzmann Blake Kashiwagi

IBM & Linux

Agenda

What is Open Source?History of Open SourceHistory of LinuxIBM and Linux

IBM & Linux

What is Open Source?

Closed Source: Code is in binary format that can only be read by computer.

Open source: Code is accessible and therefore modifiable.

IBM & Linux

History of Open Source

1971

Richar

d Sta

llman

em

brace

s

shar

ing s

oftwar

e co

de.

1975

Stallm

an le

ads

the

devel

opmen

t of

Emac

s te

xt e

diting s

oftwar

e

1984

Stallm

an p

osts

a ca

ll out t

o dev

eloper

s

to jo

in in

the

devel

opmen

t of G

NU

1991

GNU Gen

eral

Public

Lic

ense

cre

ated

1998

Term

“Open

Sourc

e” is

coin

ed

IBM & Linux

History of Linux

1991

Linus

Torval

ds st

arts

dev

elopm

ent

on an o

perat

ing s

yste

m

1992

Torval

ds in

tegra

tes

kern

el w

ith c

omponen

ts

from

the

GNU pro

ject

and li

cense

s OS.

1998

Linux

grows

to 1

.5 m

illio

n lines

of c

ode

(7.5

mill

ion u

sers

world

wide)

Oracl

e, C

ompute

r Ass

ociat

es a

nd Info

rmix

announce

Lin

ux su

pport

(July)

HP announce

s so

me

of thei

r inte

rnet

solu

tions

would s

upport Lin

ux

(October)

Mic

roso

ft docu

men

t sta

ting o

pen

sourc

e dev

elopm

ent a

nd Lin

ux

consi

dered

to b

e a

viab

le c

ompet

itive

thre

at

(November)

IBM & Linux

Linux Organization

1

1-3

200

1,000

15,000

Project Founder

Lieutenants

Core Developers

Associate Developers

Casual/Other Developers

Organization of the Linux Development Community as of 1998

IBM & Linux

IBM and Linux: Pros

Neutral platform, not owned by any other corporate entity

High growth and penetration in the PC and lower-end server markets

Equal to Windows in terms of reliability and speed

Free, but the code still needs to be supported

IBM & Linux

IBM and Linux: Cons

Long-term sustainability

Control of code

Awareness at IBM

Scope and enforceability of the GPL

IBM & Linux

IBM’s Options

Join the opponents of Linux

Adopt a neutral position like Dell

Support “free software” initiative, but stay distant from the communities

Seek an alliance with the Linux development community

“The vast majority of the Fortune 2,000 has Linux running somewhere - it's hard to keep it out, You can bring it in the door without any justification at all and experiment with it on an old piece of hardware. You don't have to build a business case ahead of time. If it doesn't work, you don't say anything about it at all. If it does, then you just present the working solution.”

“Linux came from [an arena of] simpler applications and highly technical staff.“

"[But] it is moving into [an arena of] complex, large applications with nontechnical staff, which will trigger a growing need for service and support.”

“As Linux becomes a viable platform for business applications, one key question for finance executives is whether a system praised for being free will exact a high price in the form of service and support. Computer geeks may be thrilled by the communal spirit of collaboration in the Linux world, but once a company has placed a crucial application, such as ERP (enterprise resource planning), on the Linux platform, decisions about how or whether to acquire adequate service and technical support become an important element of corporate risk management”

IBM & Linux

Strategic Fit for IBM

IBM operates as a federation of brands or sub-companies

IBM planned investment of $1 billion into Linux for 2000.

IBM views itself as selling enabling technologies to a broad audience. Linux was viewed as an opportunity to sell to a greater audience.

The company is taking the open source development model seriously.

Cultural awareness

“Linux-on-Intel appears likely to emerge as the dominant platform in corporate data centers…Linux has evolved into an enterprise-class operating system that will have a significant and lasting presence in the IT”

IBM & Linux

IBM Today

The following are specific actions IBM has taken to support Linux and promote its use:

• Research and development funding• Contributing software and talent to the open source movement• Establishing dedicated Linux advocates within product groups• Maintaining a large force of technical experts for Linux• Recruiting high-visibility customers for testimonials• Cultivating the community of analysts and journalists• Aggressively recruiting developers• Active participation in Linux-oriented events

IBM & Linux

IBM Today

Some Facts:

IBM Global Solutions Directory includes more than 4,200 Linux applications

IBM Global services division has more than 4000 professionals to support Linux

IBM’s Lotus notes, web-sphere and DB2 run on Linux

IBM & Linux

Moving Forward

What's next on the horizon for services for Linux for IBM global services?

A solid desktop Linux strategy , one that focuses on services

Embedded Linux devices will continue to grow

Growing grid computing offerings

IBM & Linux

NewsNational Institute of Smart Government and IBM India agree to pursue initiatives in the area of eGoveranance. For this they have signed an agreement on Linux support.

IBM & Linux

NewsBy the end of 2002, 22 percent of all software developers in North America and 23 percent internationally were to have written Linux applications.

51 percent of all North American software developers said they will absolutely or probably write Linux applications in 2003 (48 percent internationally).

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