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IBM, Red Hat sign bundling deal

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Stephen Shankland
IBM and Red Hat have expanded their partnership to make it possible for customers to order and accompanying support options directly with purchases of Big Blue servers that use its Power processor. Currently, the open-source operating system must be bought separately; IBM didn't disclose when the new ordering option would go into effect.

Historically, Power-based servers have run IBM's AIX version of Unix and its OS/400 operating system for midrange servers, but the company began an aggressive push for Linux for Power chips this year. The agreement means that Red Hat's Linux will be available for all Power-based servers, including the dual-processor JS20 blade server. Those blades currently support Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 and a variant sold by Turbolinux.