IBM set to release Linux-only Power server

In an effort to vault its Power processors into more widespread use, IBM plans to announce Monday a new, inexpensive server line called OpenPower that can run just the Linux operating system, CNET News.com has learned.

The products, which use the new Power5 processor, run the open-source software but not AIX or i5/OS, the IBM operating systems that more commonly run on the Power machines, according to sources familiar with the plan.

IBM is expected to price the line aggressively, sources said. The low cost would position the OpenPower products not only against lower-end Unix servers from Sun Microsystems based on the UltraSparc processor but also against servers from a number of companies using x86 chips such as Intel's Xeon and Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron.

That's a change from Power servers in the past, which have been aimed chiefly at higher-end servers using Sun's UltraSparc or Intel's Itanium.

"Clearly IBM still has a vision that their Power architecture can become an industry standard and displace all those crummy x86s and Itaniums and Opterons," Insight64 analyst Nathan Brookwood said. "They clearly see that Linux is the vehicle that makes it easier for customers to move to the Power platform."

Big Blue has a long way to go to reach x86 popularity, however. According to market researcher IDC, 4.7m x86 servers were shipped last year, vastly more than the 118,000 Power servers.

IBM has been working aggressively to promote its Power processor family. In January it said that it wanted Power servers to be the same cost as servers based on Intel processors. In May it began sharing Power details and design tools to help chipmakers make use of Power designs. And in August, IBM made it possible for programmers to use remote servers at the University of Portland for free to develop Linux software on Power.

Since 2000, IBM has been an enthusiastic advocate of Linux, which brings some unification to Big Blue's four server lines and builds ties with an influential group of software developers. The company is investing billions of dollars in its Linux business, employing more than 300 programmers to work on the operating system and defending Linux against a legal attack by the SCO Group.

But so far, Linux on Power remains a niche project with limited abilities and little appeal to those other than IBM's existing customers, said Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff. An offering like the OpenPower line is important for IBM to lift Linux on Power into the mainstream.

"They have to get the Linux community excited about it," Haff said. "The broader ambition IBM has hinted at -- that Linux on Power competes full-fledged with Linux on x86 -- really requires a much broader set of developers and partners."

The potential expense of Linux on Power could be an inhibitor for at least one possible customer.

"I personally would love to run Linux on the (PowerPC) 970s...but it's hard to justify the cost of a box," said Nathan Hruby, a system administrator at the University of Georgia who runs Linux, chiefly on x86 servers such as Hewlett-Packard's ProLiant DL380. "Equality in power, features and options with a similar (or better) price tag would probably make IBM Power5 machines look real good to us."

IBM declined to comment for this story.