IBM And Canonical Team Up To Bring LinuxONE On Mainframe Computers

The Linux Foundation has declared the launch of its new Open Mainframe Project today. When it comes to the big corporates wanting to run critical applications that need bulk data to be processed, their only recourse, still, are mainframe computers. Right from industry statistics to ERP solutions, the companies are increasingly using mainframe systems to tackle the intense workloads. After Linux OS arrived on IBM mainframe machines in 1999, users could benefit from the power of the open source software coupled with mainframe hardware RAS. IBM has today announced a partnership with Canonical to build a Linux mainframe running Ubuntu Linux called 'LinuxOne'.

IBM-LinuxOne-Canonical-Mainframe

The IBM LinuxONE systems let the user choose his tools & applications, scale limitlessly, have better speed, lower the costs and get access to embedded security services. The companies participating in the LinuxOne Open Mainframe Project can together build a set of open source tools & technologies by helping each other tackle common development issues and build better programs for Linux mainframe systems.

The new linux mainframes come in two variants: IBM LinuxONE Emperor and LinuxOne Rockhopper. The former is the high-end version that brings top performance and scalability along with better flexibility for even the most demanding workloads. The Rockhopper one is the entry-level option that brings the features of LinuxONE in a smaller package (with option to upgrade to the Emperor system).

IBM shared that the Emperor variant can scale up to 8000 virtual machines and is based on IBM Z13 Mainframe Server - The Most Powerful and Secure System Ever Built Now In India (which is capable of processing 2.5 billion transactions a day, has 2x faster processors, 300% more memory and 100% more bandwidth than its competitors). It goes without saying that the LinuxONE Emperor model is best suited for large enterprises, whereas the LinuxONE Rockhopper can cater to the SMBs.

To get more and more people on board, IBM is letting developers have free access to its new mainframe simulation tool called LinuxOne Cloud that lets users create, test and pilot the mainframe applications. Users can link resources such as mobile apps and hybrid cloud apps before testing them on the simulation tool. The company has also announced support for open software such as Apache Spark, Posture, Chef and Maria.

Among the various LinuxOne Solutions offers, there's Cloud for creating a dynamic infrastructure and greater efficiency in the process of IT service delivery. Then there's Analytics for the business transaction and operational data as well as there's DevOps to help users speed-up the the software delivery.

With Linux on the platform, Mainframe system developers get to choose their runtime, database, hypervisor, distributions, analytics as well as cloud management tools. There's also minimum risk with the data and services being fully protected.

The entire project seems to be an effort from IBM to lure developers to the mainframe computing community. The company has also put together a video to announce the launch of LinuxOne. Check it out here:


What are your thoughts about the Open Mainframe Project? Would love to hear the opinions of Linux lovers on this. Share your opinions with us in comments below.

Source: Linux Foundation Launches Open Mainframe Project • TechCrunch

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