Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Servers

    Linux Brings In $1 Billion in Revenue for IBM

    By
    Peter Galli
    -
    January 22, 2003
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      NEW YORK—IBM executives are preparing to announce at the LinuxWorld trade show here that the company received more than $1 billion in revenue from sales of Linux-based software, hardware and services in 2002.

      Big Blue will also formally introduce Jim Stallings, its new general manager of Linux, to the media and Linux community. Stallings, who was IBMs vice president of eServer sales (North America), replaces Steve Solazzo, who is on “special assignment” integrating Rational Software Corp. into IBM.

      Solazzo spearheaded Big Blues thrust into Linux and is credited with building it into a billion-dollar business.

      In his keynote address on Thursday, IBM Senior Vice President Steven Mills will talk about the $1 billion in revenue from Linux-based hardware, software and services last year.

      Scot Handy, IBMs director of Linux Solutions Marketing, told eWEEK in an interview Tuesday that its software revenues associated with systems running Linux more than doubled in 2002 from 2001. But he declined to give specific numbers or break down how much of the $1 billion in revenue came from the software, hardware and services components.

      “IBM now has 67 software products that run on Linux,” Handy said. “This includes DB2, WebSphere, Lotus and Tivoli software. WebSphere, mostly WebSphere Application Server and WebSphere Commerce suite, and DB2 are leading the field in terms of sales, while demand for our WebSphere portal software is also all on the rise.”

      Auto insurance company Mercury Insurance Group was a new customer win and is using IBM eServer xSeries Intel-based systems running Linux to power its new Java-based Web portals for both employees and independent agents, Handy said.

      Sales of IBMs AIX Unix software also grew over the past year, he said, largely at the expense of Sun Microsystems Inc.s Solaris operating environment. “Our Linux growth was also at the expense of Sun. A lot of this growth is new customer acquisition,” Handy said.

      “The real flaw is that Sun was forced to adopt Linux and suddenly they had two operating systems to deal with. Our WebSphere business on Solaris is surging because Sun helped us sell the vision of Java, but they are not delivering the software stack on anything but Solaris. We now have 2 million active developers in the WebSphere developer domain,” he said.

      IBM is also finding that many Windows customers now want some Linux, Handy said, but they do not want to throw away their Windows investment. “We have software that runs on Windows, Unix and Linux, and they like our vision, combined with Java, far more than they do the Microsoft-centric .Net vision.

      “Which is why Microsoft is struggling with the positioning of that whole thing,” he said, referring Microsofts recent decision to drop the .Net in the official name of its upcoming Windows Server 2003.

      Page 2

      IBM also on Wednesday will make a slew of product and new customer announcements at the show. Among the new customer wins to be announced will be Unilever, a multibrand company whose products include Ragu, Lipton and Elizabeth Arden.

      Unilever will standardize its infrastructure on Linux and has signed a multiyear contract with Big Blue to help it migrate to Linux. The deal includes hardware, software and services, an IBM spokeswoman told eWEEK.

      German-based Grohe, which designs, manufactures and distributes water faucets, is another customer win for IBM. It will implement a solution based on MySAP CRM Mobile Sales running DB2 database software for Linux on IBMs eServer xSeries.

      And the PGA Tour will offer TourCast, a first-of-its-kind online application that enables golf fans to follow tournament action in real time. Fans can get up-to-date information on golf matches, watch the play live, zoom in and replay shots and the like.

      The TourCast application runs on Linux Virtual Services—an on-demand service that IBM hosts on virtual servers on its eServer zSeries mainframes and Enterprise Storage Servers—enabling the PGA Tour to pay only for the power and capacity required to meet actual consumer demand.

      VeriSign Inc., which provides digital trust services, is also moving all of its public key infrastructure services from Solaris to Linux, using IBMs xSeries servers, Handy said. VeriSign has already deployed about two dozen IBM x330 servers on the West Coast to support the migration, and plans to significantly boost that number early this year.

      “Our Linux business continues to grow. We have netted some 1,700 new Linux customers since last August. We now have 6,300 Linux customers, compared to the 4,600 we had last August, across a range of industries and usages,” Handy said.

      Peter Galli
      Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second largest banking group in South Africa before moving on to become Executive News Editor of Business Report, the largest daily financial newspaper in South Africa, owned by the global Independent Newspapers group.He was responsible for a national reporting team of 20 based in four bureaus. He also edited and contributed to its weekly technology page, and launched a financial and technology radio service supplying daily news bulletins to the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which were then distributed to some 50 radio stations across the country.He was then transferred to San Francisco as Business Report's U.S. Correspondent to cover Silicon Valley, trade and finance between the US, Europe and emerging markets like South Africa. After serving that role for more than two years, he joined eWeek as a Senior Editor, covering software platforms in August 2000.He has comprehensively covered Microsoft and its Windows and .Net platforms, as well as the many legal challenges it has faced. He has also focused on Sun Microsystems and its Solaris operating environment, Java and Unix offerings. He covers developments in the open source community, particularly around the Linux kernel and the effects it will have on the enterprise.He has written extensively about new products for the Linux and Unix platforms, the development of open standards and critically looked at the potential Linux has to offer an alternative operating system and platform to Windows, .Net and Unix-based solutions like Solaris.His interviews with senior industry executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux operating system, Sun CEO Scot McNealy, and Bill Zeitler, a senior vice president at IBM.For numerous examples of his writing you can search under his name at the eWEEK Website at www.eweek.com.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×