LinuxOne: IBM and Canonical Launch Linux-Only Mainframe Systems

 IBM has teamed up with Canonical to launch a line of Linux-only mainframe servers. These mainframes will come in two flavors – Emperor and Rockhopper.

In the open source world, things are changing fast and the decade-old impossibles are becoming a reality. As a part of its bigger vision, today, IBM has launched a new unit called the IBM LinuxOne, a line of Linux-only mainframe servers. The tech pioneer has partnered with Canonical to build this mainframe running on Ubuntu Linux.

These mainframe beasts come in two flavors named after penguins, obviously. First LinuxOne flavor running on the IBM z13 is called Emperor and the other one is the Rockhopper. Compared to Emperor, the Rockhopper is a smaller and made for a more entry level mainframe system.

As mentioned earlier, this announcement comes in the wake of the future plans of IBM to attract a larger userbase toward mainframe systems. Now, IBM is focussing on a monthly subscription pricing model, along with a deeper connection with the FOSS community. The company is hoping to promote its business in enterprise security, analytics and cloud as LinuxOne will be supporting a wider range of open source software for the enterprise. These software include: MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Chef, Node.js, Apache Spark and Mango DB.

It should be noted that recently IBM open sourced 50 projects and launched developerWorks Open.

According to Ross Mauri, GM for IBM systems, IBM grabs around 10 to 20 customers a quarter. By employing the new and basic pricing model, company is hoping to grab more buyers who were earlier afraid of the high cost of mainframe systems.

What do you think about the IBM LinuxOne? Tell us in comments below.

Also read: Checkout Canonical certified PCs to install Linux