03/31/2003 — ARMONK, NY -- (INTERNET WIRE) -- 03/31/2003 -- IBM today announced several significant developments that highlight the rapid emergence of Grid Computing as a compelling choice for enterprises running Linux on the IBM eServer zSeries mainframe.

The company was joined by Linux software provider SUSE Linux and the industry's leading grid software providers in announcing that:

• The Globus Toolkit is now available for Linux on the IBM eServer zSeries. The Globus Toolkit for Linux on zSeries can be obtained from SUSE Linux as part of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8, powered by UnitedLinux or for download at http://www.globus.org.

• Grid middleware provider DataSynapse announced availability of its award-winning LiveCluster 3G for Linux on the eServer zSeries. LiveCluster is designed to solve compute- and data- intensive bottlenecks and scalability constraints by harnessing the power of servers, clusters and desktops anywhere on a network. LiveCluster allows applications running on zSeries to participate in the LiveCluster workload prioritization environment. The porting of DataSynapse's LiveCluster to support Linux for zSeries servers enables the platform to behave as an application server that delivers optimal load balancing, resource efficiency and high availability.

• Grid software provider Platform Computing announced availability of three of its products for Linux on the zSeries mainframe. These include Platform LSF, which is designed to provide on-demand access to an organization's global compute resources and balances workloads across the entire organization; Platform JobScheduler, a software solution that accelerates batch processing by integrating, automating and grid-enabling silos of applications, jobs and process flows across distributed computing clusters; and Platform MultiCluster, which allows enterprises to create a single, cohesive computing environment with easy-to-manage resource sharing policies across geographies.

"The availability of the Globus Toolkit for Linux on the IBM zSeries mainframe is another key milestone in the evolution of Grid Computing," said Globus Project leader Dr. Ian Foster of the Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago. "Commercial adoption of Grid Computing will continue to accelerate as companies like IBM and SUSE broaden their support for the Globus Toolkit."

"With this announcement, IBM is enabling a powerful Linux platform to participate in grids," said Holger Dryoff, general manager, Americas, SUSE Linux. "By enabling the world's most stable platform as the control unit for grid computing, there is the potential for a great leap in computing power."

"The IBM mainframe's advanced workload management capabilities and high availability have clear advantages when deploying Grid Computing applications," said Rich Lechner, vice president, IBM Enterprise Servers. "As enterprises make the move to grid, the resiliency, flexibility, and high-speed throughput of the eServer zSeries can provide significant performance advantages."

Mainframes on the Grid

The following is a brief list of the advanced capabilities provided by IBM eServer zSeries for Grid Computing:

Dynamic Server Provisioning -- The zSeries offers the ability to dynamically deploy and configure new virtual grid servers in just minutes, allowing enterprises to tap additional zSeries capacity to address new business opportunities.

High Availability -- Housing critical grid scheduler and directory software in the high availability eServer zSeries environment can increase the service levels of commercial grids, while facilitating high-speed access to mission-critical enterprise data and application resources.

Virtualization -- IBM's industry leading virtualization technology, z/VM, supports the creation of hundreds of virtual Linux servers on a single box, making it particularly well suited for developing, testing, servicing, and deploying Grid Computing applications and infrastructure.

Server Consolidation -- Grid applications running on Linux on the zSeries can offer cost advantages, particularly for customers seeking to speed return on their investment by consolidating distributed servers on the eServer zSeries.

About IBM

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/announce/grid/ or www.ibm.com/grid.

Information on IBM eServer is available at www.ibm.com/eserver. IBM news releases and fact sheets are available at www.ibm.com. The IBM eServer brand consists of the established IBM e-business logo with the descriptive term "server" following it. The following are either trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States or other countries or both: IBM, the IBM e-business logo, zSeries, z/VM. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All others are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

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