Analysis: Big Blue denies Linux plan will clash with Monterey

IBM's decision to join Trillian, which is porting Linux to Intel's IA-64, has raised doubts over its commitment to the 64-bit Unix project, Monterey.

Speaking at the Linux World conference in San Jose earlier this month, Jonathan Prial, director of IBM's Linux marketing, said there was no real conflict of interest between the two development initiatives: "They're not in the same space. Monterey is aimed at high-value business transactions, business intelligence and data warehousing. While the Trillian project complements it as a file, print and web server. We see it as predominantly front-ending our back-end servers and selling into the small and medium business space."

Prial denied that the company faced potential pricing cannibalisation as a result of offering the Linux open source OS on its Netfinity servers - which are cheaper than its AIX on Power Risc machines, He also refuted that the move implied a reduced commitment to Monterey.

"We're not entering an OS holy war. We'll truly support both because we have a large installed base and we'll let our customers decide. Monterey helps us in terms of what to do with an IA-64 path for AIX," said Prial.

"All the other Unix vendors had a path and now we have one, but no-one presumes that Linux can do what AIX, Solaris, HP/UX and the others can do. It's not ready for the enterprise yet, although it will get there."

No cause for confusion

However, Clive Longbottom, strategy analyst at Strategy Partners International warned users to treat Prial's comments with caution: "There is a conflict between IBM's plans for Monterey, Trillian Linux and its other Unix offerings."

"I do not see that the company views Monterey as a long-term and strategic platform. However, it is genuinely committed to Linux. I see Linux being positioned as a halfway house between low-end Netfinity NT boxes and high-end AS400s. The space for Monterey in the middle is less clear.

Project Monterey, which was announced last year, involves IBM and its recent purchase, Sequent, and the Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) merging their Unix variants to create a 64-bit OS that will run on Intel IA-64.

However, earlier this month, IBM announced it would also join the open source Trillian Project to develop Linux for IA-64.

Both the Monterey and Trillian operating systems have been promised for early 2000, and should ship at the same time as Intel's IA-64.