Ubuntu Linux Forges Tighter DB2 Ties

The latest IBM database will now download and deploy easily from the Ubuntu 6.06 desktop. If users want DB2, they can go to the download site, and Ubuntu automates the download and installs it.

The Linux distribution is free and includes five years of server security updates. Customers can have a strict service-level guarantee and can license that from Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. Canonical and IBM collaborated on the database/Linux integration.

"Partnering with IBM enables us to combine the stability and ease of use of Ubuntu with IBM's leading database solution, ensuring that enterprise customers get the fully supported low-cost and robust solution they demand," Ubuntu Founder Mark Shuttleworth said in a statement.

Three-year-old Ubuntu is seen as an up-and-coming Linux distribution. Some industry observers call it the fastest-growing Linux in the enterprise.

IBM partners agree that there is rising interest in Linux among their customers.

Bud Brasier, CEO of Emerging Technology Solutions, a Denver-based ISV that builds atop IBM's software stack, said that's what he's seeing. About 25 percent of the company's business runs on OS/400 or the iSeries/AS/400 platform. Ten to 15 percent is on Linux, and most of the remainder is on Windows.

"We are seeing growth in Linux" among the company's primarily midmarket accounts, Brasier said.