Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

IBM's engineering work and its collaboration with Novell and Red Hat to create compelling technology stacks on IBM's core server, software, and service offerings have gained significant traction over the past year, providing an alternative to Advanced Interactive eXecutive (AIX) for IBM customers. IBM's programs and product incentives for independent software vendors (ISVs) and resellers are creating a stronger pull for customers to consider putting Linux on POWER5 systems. This emphasis — and, some would argue, overmarketing of Linux and open source from IBM — leaves some staunch AIX loyalists concerned about the future of AIX as IBM's systems architecture backbone for POWER5-based mission critical environments. In reality, the current traction for AIX adoption is strong. The sweet spot for current feature/functionality improvements remains its virtualization and reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) features. More importantly, IBM's investments in the AIX road map will continue to push the envelope by migrating core functionality from its battle-tested zSeries systems architecture into the next generation of AIX/POWER5.

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