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IBM Attempts to Take Over Unix Market

IBM is trying to become the top seller in the Unix Market. And with the recent opening of the AIX Collaboration Center (ACC) in Austin, Texas, this may soon become a reality. The Unix market is valued in the multi-billion dollar range, it is no wonder that companies are vying to become number one. The ACC is a facility where IBM engineers can help software vendors write new applications and middleware for IBM`s AIX operating system and 64-bit Power systems. The center is the culmination of a two year, $200 million investment of hardware and personnel to improve the performance and scalability of Big Blue`s current and next wave of Unix servers.

For example, software makers will work to create virtualization software that is more fine-grained, allowing servers to be partitioned more than they ever have before, said Karl Freund, vice president of IBM`s Unix server division. They will also work on better automating the systems and software so they can manage themselves without human intervention. Specifically, programmers can expect to use software that lets applications be moved from one server or set of servers to others on the fly and without disruption. IBM acquired this technology when it bought Meiosys last summer and plans to introduce it to the market after testing in the ACC.

The ACC will be managed by Satya Sharma, an IBM Distinguished Engineer and the chief AIX architect for the company. Symantec and SAS are just two of the several vendors participating in ACC that IBM plans to announce in the coming year. After watching Sun grow share at a rapid clip in the 1980s and 1990s, IBM began the long steady climb up the ranks in the current decade, thanks to its Power chip architecture and highly virtualized, strong 64-bit servers. IBM has enjoyed some 14 consecutive quarters of Unix system growth at the expense of Sun, which still leads in Unix sales.