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To: Eric Yang who wrote (63314)	8/25/1998 6:38:00 AM
From: herb will	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Eric, "Whoa...is this the same Merced that has been delayed? Maybe it is all of the above? Or maybe it is this one! AIX Headed For Merced -- IBM To Port Unix Operating System To Forthcoming Intel Processor Martin J. Garvey IBM's AIX Unix operating system, which now runs exclusively on the company's PowerPC processor, is headed for Intel's IA-64 architecture. An official statement detailing the port to Merced is planned by year's end, and IBM says the operating system will be ready when that processor ships in 2000. The disclosure ends months of speculation about IBM's future Unix strategy. While vendors such as Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems have long since pledged to prepare their versions of Unix for IA-64, IBM's support for running Unix on Intel processors has been lukewarm. The company is now working with Intel and considering using other undisclosed partners to accomplish the port, says William Zeitler, IBM's general manager of server brand management. Moreover, Zeitler says, IBM wants to dominate the Unix-on-Intel market, though AIX on PowerPC systems will continue to be strategic to the company. "Unix will be big, and Unix on Intel will be big, through 2005," says Zeitler. "Why not have those Intel servers on AIX?" With the right partner, Zeitler says, the company "can be a player in the eventual Unix consolidation." In a report issued last week, financial analysts at Merrill Lynch said IBM hopes to work closely with Intel in setting the de facto standard for Unix-on-Intel. Such a specification could benefit companies that would otherwise wrestle with the complications caused by Intel-based systems from different vendors running various versions of Unix. But AIX customer Bob Venable, manager of enterprise systems for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee in Chattanooga, says he won't be interested in running the operating system on the IA-64 platform until he sees support from the application vendors and price/performance advantages. "Unless the system fills in some gap for me, it's just another computer," says Venable. The only sure thing about the intended port is that it's bound to create both questions and confusion, says Gartner Group Inc. analyst Tom Henkel. "It undermines IBM's stated commitment to PowerPC and will come back to bite IBM," he says. "Two architectures for the same operating system confuse the heck out of the IBM product strategy." Copyright r 1998 CMP Media Inc. techweb.com Herb