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In another European Linux win for IBM and SuSE Linux AG, the Kommunales Rechenzentrum Niederrhein (KRZN), a public sector data center serving more than 60 counties in the northwestern section of Germany, has chosen to run Linux on IBM zSeries mainframes.
KRZN chose SuSE Linux Enterprise Server on the mainframe to help keep its systems management costs low and consolidate servers while still being able to offer high availability and investment protection for future applications.
KRZN initially had used Linux on PC servers—mainly for backup—but decided to port its Linux applications from the PC server to the mainframe when it needed a consolidated solution.
This enabled KRZN to offer mainframe availability and new applications, at lower systems management costs.
“The integration of the mainframe platform with new applications under Linux and the perspective to use this powerful combination in the area of Web services offers us the opportunity to position ourselves as an innovative service provider in the public sector IT services market,” Oliver Kamp, KRZNs director for IT systems technology, said in a statement released in Germany on Wednesday.
KRZN currently has three Linux systems installed—one native in an LPAR and two under the hypervisor system z/VM. It has also installed Websphere version 4 for Linux for further tests.
Going forward, KRZN plans to run its DNS server using Linux on the zSeries; install an OSA/Fast Ethernet adapter; host the Web offerings of the 60 towns it serves; have static and dynamic Lotus Domino offerings as well as operate a production news server that requires high storage capacity, Kamp said.
Last March, IBM and SuSE joined forces to provide Linux support and services to their combined global client base.
In June, the German government said it was moving to standardize on Linux and an open-source IT model at the federal, state and local levels. As part of this move, the government signed a nonexclusive contract with IBM that will facilitate moving its agencies to Linux and help develop innovative IT solutions based on open standards. An IBM spokeswoman told eWEEK at that time that IBM will deliver its eServer family pre-installed with Linux from SuSE.
Last September IBM said it had signed up two new retail customers to Linux: movie theater chain Regal Entertainment Group and Brazilian retailer Casas Bahia.
That followed other retail wins for Big Blue last year with Sherwin-Williams Paint stores, Boscovs Department Store, global convenience retailer 7-Eleven, and Wolfermans, a gourmet baked goods company in Kansas.
- Read more stories by Peter Galli