> > If IBM de-emphasizes z/Linux, it would almost certainly be > in favor of > > p/Architecture (and p/Linux) rather than in favor of z/OS (or z/VM). > > > > As pure speculation... I would not be surprised to see mixed > > p/Arch-z/Arch sysplexes sharing high-powered hierarchal > file systems > > (or raw files) using the coupling facility (NB... a raw file is a > > physical or logical file system partition with low-level access... > > somewhere between Media Manager and I/O driver level). > > IMHO if IBM de-emphasizes z/Linux they will be pushing Linux > on blades.
It's often more useful to think of IBM as a federation of a dozen companies rather than a single company. That concept tends to explain some of their more-than-occasional internecine infighting between divisions for the "strategic platform" laurels. That said, I would tend to concur. The likelihood of mono-architectures like POWER competing successfully with the ubiquity of the Intel equipment makes the idea of a flexible backplane employing different modules for different purposes, but sharing common I/O equipment just too useful of a concept. It's "right tool, right job" at it's finest. Use the processors that match the requirements, and share the stuff that isn't really specialized for any specific architecture. It also directly addresses one of the largest perceptual problems with the mainframe -- that the equipment is "different" and requires specialized skills and hardware to be easily integrated. > If you look at the BladeCenter archictecture it is simular to > what they have in the mainframes to day, at a highlevel that is. It's even closer to telco switching hardware, which is about as close to "24x7x365, no excuses" as anyone's ever gotten. The midplane/front card/back card architecture that exists in that hardware is ideally suited to this kind of concept, and there is literally decades of hard evidence that this kind of approach is simple and effective. > I can see IBM developing microcode to allow the blades (think > books in the z990 and z9) to appear to be one box and to > logical partition. Check out openssi.org. Much of this already exists (and happens to work like a champ on blades...8-)). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For LINUX-390 subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: INFO LINUX-390 or visit http://www.marist.edu/htbin/wlvindex?LINUX-390
