IBM Rebrands Unix And Windows Workstations As IntelliStation

IBM

IBM on Tuesday also introduced new Windows and Unix models to its IntelliStation line.

The move to unify the workstation line helps combine the company's development efforts and helps field representatives and partners better represent the workstation family regardless of operating system and processor, said John Holz, vice president for IBM's eServer IntelliStation.

That, in turn, will help the company grab market share from Sun, the dominant player in this space, Holz said. "The workstation market is becoming more heterogeneous," he said. "We want to be known for a heterogeneous offering. Sun is the perfect answer as long as someone is working under Solaris. Microsoft is the perfect answer as long as you are in the Windows environment. IBM is the answer regardless of operating system."

In addition to unifying its workstation lines, IBM is also furthering its support of Linux by certifying all its workstation models for Linux compatibility.

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The move is the latest part of IBM's strategy to leverage its brand name across all product lines, said Stewart Booden, president of Aspen Consulting, a Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based IBM business partner.

In the past, some sales reps were familiar with IBM's p-series Unix workstations, while others knew the company's Intel-based models, Booden said.

"Now we can deal with one sales organization which should help cut confusion," Booden said. "They are now saying all future hardware releases will be under one brand and that this is a workstation, and do you want a Unix-based or Intel-based one. This makes the message more clear to the customer."

IBM on Tuesday also introduced the IntelliStation Power 265 workstation with one or two 450MHz 64-bit Power3 processors, up to 8 Gbytes of ECC memory, five PCI slots and integrated dual 10/100 Ethernet ports. The company also introduced new Pro series workstations powered by the Pentium 4 and Xeon processors at 2.2GHz.