x86 Linux Apps To Run Native On IBM System P

Linux

Big Blue on Monday said it is OEMing its System p Application Virtual Environment (System p AVE) software from Transitive, a Los Gatos, Calif.-based company that develops technology that allows software applications to run on multiple hardware platforms. Transitive developed the Rosetta technology, which allows Macintosh applications to run on WinTel PCs, as well as technology for running SPARC/Solaris applications on WinTel servers.

Scott Handy, vice president of worldwide marketing and strategy for IBM's System p, said that before the new technology, about 2,800 x86 Linux-based applications had been recompiled to run natively on IBM's POWER processor-based System p servers.

However, Handy said, that left tens of thousands of x86 Linux applications that could not be consolidated to the System p.

"System p AVE now allows x86 Linux binaries to run on POWER processors," he said. "It auto-detects that the application is written for Linux on x86 and runs it natively."

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The move is important because of the ability of IBM's System p servers to consolidate hundreds of small x86-based servers to save data center floor space, power and cooling costs, Handy said.

For instance, he said, the company's new System 560Q servers, introduced in February, can be partitioned into up to 10 virtual servers per core. The servers have a maximum of 16 cores. Customers of the 560Q are currently partitioning them into an average of 30 virtual servers.

"Customers can fit five 560Qs on a rack, and it's reasonable for them to put a total of 320 x86 virtual servers in there," he said. "They could actually combine up to eight racks of x86 servers into one rack with an 88 percent savings in floor space and a 66 percent savings in power."

Customers could also run x86 Linux applications natively on up to 168 virtual servers per IBM BladeCenter server blade chassis, or up to 12 virtual servers on a 1U rack mount System p 505Q, Handy said.

"Now we can say whatever Web server you run on Linux, it'll work on System p," he said. "Whatever Linux workload you want to run, it'll run on System p."

David Stone, vice president of business development at Solutions-II, a Littleton, Colo.-based IBM solution provider, said his company has had great success with IBM's System p server thanks to its stability.

"p AVE will give us many more opportunities to present the System p to smaller and larger companies," Stone said. "Before, it was limited in terms of number of Linux applications it could run. Now it will be a general option for Linux users."

Another IBM solution provider, however, said the ability to natively run x86 Linux applications on the System p was more of a market ploy.

"We haven't seen that much demand for Linux on the System p," said Pete Elliot, director of marketing at Key Information Systems, Woodland Hills, Calif. "We'll have to look at the environment and how the performance is. A shell emulator will eat up some processing cycles."

Elliot said there are not a lot of mission-critical applications running on Linux. "I'm sure there are applications where you could put a good business case for System p," he said. "But it will be more expensive in terms of processing resources."

p AVE works with applications written for Red Hat and SUSE Linux, Handy said. It is currently available in beta, with general availability expected in the second half of the year.

p AVE will be provided for all new and existing System p servers free of charge, Handy said. "We want the value proposition of System p to be available to all Unix and Linux users," he said. "We debated a nominal charge, but decided to make it free of charge."