LWM: IBM seems to be getting behind Linux in a big way. What are some of the major initiatives right now?
Scott Handy: We have a very broad focus on Linux for large accounts and for small and medium-sized businesses. Within that, we focus on particular industries - namely retail, finance, public sector (including government), manufacturing, and telecommunications.

Linux adoption has been strong in all industries, so there have been cross-industry initiatives as well including e-commerce, CRM, ERP, and accounting software.

Overall, we have a broad set of programs starting with a focus on solution providers and in particular application developers. We have an initiative called "Speed Start Your Linux Application" in which we provide free technical support for Linux and IBM software on Linux to developers as well as development tools and software, including the DB2 database, WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Studio tools, Lotus tools, and Tivoli Management Software.

The developer pick-up from the program has been extremely strong. In the past year we've had more than 6,500 applications developed using our software on Linux - all of which use WebSphere Studio and the rest of the IBM software family.

We also have a direct sales force and Business Partners that cover the customers and customize solutions based on their needs. I think customers vote with their wallets when they buy solutions on Linux, and we've had more than 6,300 successful customer engagements on Linux - clearly showing penetration beyond the Global 2000 into small and medium-sized businesses and across a broad range of industries.

LWM: Why does it make business sense for IBM to commit development resources to projects like Linux that don't generate license revenue?
Handy: There's a tremendous demand from customers for Linux, and we're in the business of providing customers with the solutions that they want. The fact that Linux is the fastest growing server operating system in the world validates that customer demand. So we provide development resources to accelerate Linux's acceptance into the enterprise by helping it mature into a mainstream enterprise operating system.

The benefit to IBM is really the solution stack that we put around Linux that customers do buy - which is the software, hardware, and services around the Linux operating system. Most customers do actually buy the Linux operating system, by the way, just not directly from us. We recommend that they buy the supported enterprise versions from Red Hat or one of the UnitedLinux partners.

LWM: When IBM purchased Lotus Development Corporation, many corporations felt that it was "safe" to adopt Lotus Notes because IBM was behind it. Are you seeing similar attitudes now that IBM is behind Linux?
Handy: I think that's a good analogy. When we bought Lotus back in 1995, they had about 3 million seats of Lotus Notes. By promoting Lotus in the enterprise we've been able to grow that to over 105 million seats, so it's certainly safe to say that's been a successful endeavor.

We're now seeing a similar mainstream acceptance of Linux. But I think IBM adds more than just credibility. It also adds solutions around Linux. The Linux operating system is not necessarily a solution and what we bring to the table is our hardware, software, and services, plus our solution providers that deliver applications for Linux.

LWM: What do you see as the "value proposition" of Linux for corporations?
Handy: Linux's initial attraction was around price/performance, reliability, and total cost of ownership. It also proved to be very flexible, runs on a wide variety of hardware, and has gained broad industry support.

More specifically, the two killer applications that drove its success on the server were Apache for Web servers and Samba for file and print serving. And as customers started there, they were extremely happy with the reliability and performance characteristics. Now customers are saying they want to expand that and get those same reliability and total cost of ownership benefits for their business applications. That's what's fueling the growth of Linux.

LWM: What concerns do managers in general have about adopting Linux? Are these concerns valid?
Handy: Usually the first concern we hear is about how to get mainstream support for Linux. And usually that's just a matter of educating them on the wide variety of support options available. Support is available directly from the distribution companies, and IBM provides direct support for Linux with the same terms and conditions, including 24x7 support, that we provide for IBM operating systems.

Next, I think that customers want to adopt Linux but don't want to reinvent their infrastructure on top of Linux. That's why we're seeing such a broad acceptance of middleware on top of Linux, including our DB2, WebSphere, Lotus, and Tivoli products. Sales of those products more than doubled year over year in 2002 because customers didn't want to reinvent an e-business infrastructure on Linux. We are able to provide that infrastructure with software that's been ported from Unix and Windows and has already been battle tested in real, production customer environments.

LWM: If I were a senior technical person who wanted to use Linux, what arguments could I use when I approach my management?
Handy: The real Linux momentum started at the senior technical management level. It was a grassroots effort driven by the fact that you could install Linux without a purchase order and without approval from anyone. And those initial pilots and production projects were highly successful and gave those senior technical managers ammunition to expand.

A few years ago, we found that CEOs weren't aware that they had Linux installed when in fact they did. Then, as more and more vendors publicly announced support for Linux, the breadth of Linux projects installed became clear to middle management. The senior technical managers were usually justifying Linux because it provided Unix reliability at Intel price points.

LWM: Moving up the line, what arguments could middle management use to sell Linux to senior management?
Handy: Middle management based decisions on expanding Linux on the success of the initial Linux projects they had. And in fact, Linux was providing Unix reliability at Intel price points. They found they could scale Linux using clusters or server consolidation on larger servers up to and including Linux on the mainframe.

Also, as more software became available for Linux (such as IBM's software portfolio, where we now have more than 75 products shipping on Linux) as well as software from key application providers such as SAP, JD Edwards, and SAS, middle management could more easily integrate Linux into their existing environment.

LWM: Is Linux on the radar at the senior or chief executive levels yet? Should it be?
Handy: Absolutely! Almost all senior managers either have a Linux plan or are being asked for one because it's so well known that Linux is being adopted by major corporations around the world - many of which believe they're getting a competitive advantage using Linux versus the alternatives. It's only natural that CIOs have a plan for what they're doing with Linux.

LWM: If I were a manager interested in Linux, where is the "low-hanging fruit"? That is, which areas of the business should I look to first when considering adopting Linux?
Handy: Managers usually start with a pilot that they move into production. Usually, the pilot applications are for workload consolidation or deploying new applications or workloads. For example, a customer I'm working with now is starting with a JD Edwards application. In our experience, these pilot applications have all been successful. Then they expand Linux to other areas of the business.

LWM: Which Linux distributions does IBM support or recommend? Is IBM considering their own distribution?
Handy: IBM recommends and supports Red Hat and UnitedLinux, including the distributions from UnitedLinux's partners. IBM has no plans for its own distribution.

LWM: What is the future of AIX?
Handy: AIX will continue to expand. In fact, since we started our Linux initiative back in 1999, AIX market share has grown. We continue to see AIX drive further up into more scalable servers - into 32-way configurations and beyond - as well as expanding in the mid-range base.

LWM: Do you see Linux fragmenting similarly to Unix? What forces might keep that from happening?
Handy: No. The unique thing about Linux is the GPL license, which forces all derivatives of Linux to have their source code published. That's very unlike Unix. Because of that the industry is all sharing the same Linux kernel and for 10 years running has kept to a single code base.