IBM Introduces Pricing, Enhancements for LINUX® on S/390 Servers

SOMERS, N.Y., August 2, 2000 — IBM today unveiled hardware and software enhancements for Linux running on S/390 enterprise servers as well as new introductory pricing. The initiatives are aimed at helping S/390 customers run the Linux operating system on the mainframe quickly, easily and at lower prices.

The IBM S/390 Integrated Facility for Linux [ http://www.s390.ibm.com/linux/sfl.html ], a new hardware feature available for S/390 G5 and G6 servers, allows users to add processor capacity exclusively for Linux use. This new feature has a low, introductory price, in line with prices for similar workloads running on other platforms.

The IBM S/390 Integrated Facility for Linux brings customers the ability to add system capacity to dedicate to Linux workloads, without increasing charges for IBM S/390 software on the rest of the server. In a major departure from usual practice BMC Software, Candle, Computer Associates, Compuware, SAGA Software and other leading mainframe software vendors have agreed to this pricing policy. Additionally, software running on a dedicated Linux engine will be priced separately.

Another enhancement, the new S/390 Virtual Image Facility for Linux software [ http://www.s390.ibm.com/marketing/g2219105.html ], which will run S/390 G5 and G6 servers and on the IBM S/390 Integrated Facility for Linux, allows S/390 customers a way to run multiple Linux systems on one S/390 processor. Virtual Image Facility, an easy-to-use high performance supervisor, operates within a logical partition or in native S/390 mode and provides the capability to create and manage hundreds of Linux images on one S/390 server.

"These enhancements make it easier for S/390 customers to get down and dirty with Linux," said Nancy Roath, VP of S/390 brand marketing, Enterprise Systems Group at IBM. "Customers can run Linux as a separate facility, safely away from the production environment — and at a lower cost."

IBM middleware for Linux for S/390 such as DB2 Universal Database Version 7, DB2 Connect Version 7, WebSphere Advanced Edition Version 3.5 and Java JDK Version 1.2.2, will be available later this year. In addition, Tivoli Systems plans to ship several core management applications for Linux for S/390 by the end of this year. As part of IBM's efforts to make pricing more uniform, these products will be priced consistently on all IBM Linux environments — Intel, RISC and S/390 — with comparable terms and conditions.

Virtual Image Facility and the IBM S/390 Integrated Facility for Linux will be available on September 29, 2000.

About IBM S/390 enterprise servers
IBM is the world's number one server company. IBM S/390 servers support the world's most successful businesses and organizations by providing industry-leading levels of scalability, availability and security for large-scale e-business and enterprise computing needs. The S/390 platform is a leader in running multiple, diverse, mission-critical workloads and applications, including Linux, e-business, financial and administrative, business intelligence and enterprise resource planning.

Learn more about Linux for S/390:

ibm.com/s390/linux

S/390 Virtual Image Facility for Linux [ http://www.s390.ibm.com/marketing/g2219105.html ] specification sheet

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