By William Fellows
Although IBM Corp was late into the Unix-on-Intel IA-64 game, a significant head of steam is building around the Monterey64 operating system based upon the AIX kernel that it is creating in conjunction with Santa Cruz Operation Inc.
Compaq Computer Corp says it will OEM SCO’s Monterey64 implementation for use on future IA-64-based PC servers targeted at small and medium sized businesses as well as appliance server products. That, despite the fact Compaq is currently porting its own Tru64 (nee Digital Unix) to IA-64, where it will be used on enterprise platforms. Compaq is estimated to do $2bn on servers running SCO’s current UnixWare kernel.
Dell Computer Corp could be next up to the plate. Following its $16bn parts and technology-sharing agreement with IBM, Dell executives have held discussions with Big Blue and its partners around Monterey64. Dell says it is currently scoping out the opportunity it would have with customers. It already offers Sun’s Solaris x86 and SCO UnixWare as an option for customers to have installed through its DellPlus Custom Factory Integration program. Unix is becoming a significant business for Dell’s server group, which is reportedly expecting to sell tens of thousands more Unix licenses than it did last year.
Meantime, SCO is now claiming that it expects Sun Microsystems Inc will lose the very few Intel OEMs back to us, following massive UnixWare support from the big guns. IBM’s other Monterey64 partner is Sequent Computer Systems Inc, which defected from Compaq’s Tru64 camp last year. The two are said to be ready to expand their current level of technology sharing. Monterey64 is effectively a way for IBM to tap SCO’s large OEM base – Unisys, Bull and ICL are among its other OEMs – not only for Monterey64, but the lucrative services business enjoyed in high-end and complex systems installations.
