IBM and Business Partners Realize Significant Growth on the Mainframe and Linux

IBM today announced a mainframe milestone as more than 390 IBM business partners now offer nearly 1,000 applications for System z customers running Linux, a 100 percent increase over the last year. IBM recently reported a 30 percent year-to-year growth of mainframe customers running Linux and this surge is giving IBM's channel partners the opportunity to capitalize on the mainframe's continued growth.

This increase in Linux application development for the mainframe is being driven by a number of factors, including the overwhelming acceptance of partitioned Linux virtual servers — and the associated great price and performance — which is driving new workloads on System z.

In addition, IBM Business Partners are reporting customer interest in new IBM technology including the z9 Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) and z Application Assistant Processor (zAAP) specialty engines. More than 60 percent of IBM mainframe revenue is now driven by new workloads, with approximately 20 percent of revenue and 30 percent of MIPS (million instructions per second) coming from Linux customers. This demand paves the way for independent software vendors looking to capitalize on the combined strengths of Linux and the mainframe.

In addition, several independent software vendors (ISVs) and systems integrators (SIs) around the world are realizing double-digit growth for software applications and support for System z.

System z, the flagship for IBM Systems innovation and the hub of the infrastructure, provides an advanced combination of security and resiliency features to enterprises that require high levels of application availability and information processing, and the capability to reallocate resources on the fly to match changing business priorities.

For more information visit http://www.ibm.com/partnerworld.