IBMs Zeitler: No Stopping Open Movement

IBM executive William Zeitler called Linux and the open-source movement a significant phenomenon for the computing industry that cannot be thwarted by proprietary technology.

In a keynote speech at the LinuxWorld show in New York Wednesday, Zeitler said he believes the open-source movement will transform the industry, in terms of e-business and reaching into other areas such as grid computing, which Zeitler called the future of the open movement.

In addition, Zeitler and IBM Wednesday announced a deal with E-Trade Group Inc., in which E-Trade will be moving its customer-facing financial services platform to IBM eServer xSeries systems running Linux.

Zeitler said IBM has 2,500 customers using Linux in various forms and identified several industries as among the leaders in the use of the technology, including petroleum, life sciences, telecommunications and financial services.

“The technologies of the open movement and the people of the open movement are going to profoundly change the industry and how innovation is done,” Zeitler said.

“We feel that companies that try to deny the force of this movement are on the wrong side of history,” he added.

Zeitler said IBM is closely involved in promoting the concept of grid computing — connecting the computing resources of computers via the Internet for sharing resources.

“Were not just talking capacity grids, but availability grids,” Zeitler said. “This wont happen without the open movement.” IBM fellows have written technical papers on the issue, he said.