We’re sorry to disappoint anyone but IBM Corp swears, contrary to various reports, that it has not yet decided when it will port its AIX Unix to Intel. It’s sticking to the story we first reported in March (CI No 3,413), when VP server brand marketing Bill Zeitler told ComputerWire that it is likely Big Blue will offer AIX on Intel’s IA-64 Merced architecture. Just last week (CI No 3,473), IBM’s AIX managers told us they know how to do the port, how long it will take and how much it will cost. But they maintain the AIX-on-PowerPC products currently offer better price/performance than AIX-on-Intel. Of course that is likely to change once IA-64 is in play and with IBM’s PC Server group itching to get into the enterprise with 64-bit Intel it will need an enterprise Unix for the job. Even Wall Street brokerage Merrill Lynch & Co IBM says it hasn’t articulated a specific plan to do the port. It didn’t comment on the brokerage’s suggestion that IBM is looking to work with partners like Intel to create a reference platform for volume Unix systems. Instead of attempting the impossible in getting the Unix vendors to agree to an operating system standard, it sounds like IBM may try to force a reference platform the way Intel and Microsoft Corp did in the PC space. Intel said it had no information on such a plan and said it had so far received commitments from Microsoft, Santa Cruz Operation Inc, DEC and Hewlett-Packard Co stating their operating system support for IA-64. Leading Unix-on-Intel vendor SCO gave the suggestion no credence. While 85% of IBM’s hardware profits came from mainframe and AS/400 sales its problem areas are the AIX-based PowerPC RS/6000s and Intel-based PC servers and PCs.
