IBM is stepping up its commitment to open source with Linux-based products due for release in the next few months. With the new releases, the archetypal 'big brother' computer company of the 1970s is aiming to become the champion of Linux.

IBM's iSeriesprogramme director, Elaine Case, exclusively revealed to Network News that the next release of iServer, the son of the cult AS/400, will have Linux on board. The company is unconcerned about not owning the software and said it is just interested in signing up application and service partners.

Such statements make Big Blue sound less like the company that inspired the killing-you-for-your-own-good computer HAL in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey or the firm that hung on to its child OS/2 until grim death. According to Case, the open source conversion fits with IBM's ebusiness internet strategy. IBM has a strong middleware product and this, coupled with open source, makes for very powerful open networks.

"We will be continuing to invest in middleware on Linux for iSeries and are working closely with partners to develop more applications," she said. Case seems unconcerned that Linux will become bogged down as developers work on applications rather than kernel development or that it will splinter the same way as Unix. Nor does the Linux commitment mean that IBM is abandoning links with Java. However, Java has failed to do as well as many analysts predicted with few taking it up as completely as IBM and Sun hoped.

"Java is a critical part of our strategy," Case confirmed. "There are a large number of software developers moving to Java. Although it was slow getting off the ground, it is becoming more and more important."

Big Blue is banking on systems becoming less Lan-focused and more internet focused, a strategy which is seen as Novell's lifesaver. Novell, with its core strategy based around NDS, and IBM, based around middleware, have a lot in common. The difference is that IBM is more open source, according to Case. "Ebusiness is on the increase and we are looking towards a much bigger ebusiness infrastructure being developed," she said.

Neither does Case see economic slowdown as a cause to delay the development of ebusiness. "If there is any economic slowdown, it is up to companies to cut costs and improve efficiency. They can do this by moving to more efficient ebusiness solutions," she said.

But according to Peter Russell of US analysts Whitehouse and Co, there is method behind IBM's open source policy. Although it was a change of image for the company, he said the strategy was more in keeping with the way the industry was going rather than a company make-over: "It is advantageous for IBM to back open source. Although it is spending a fortune developing applications, it doesn't have to pay anything for the original source code. It gives IBM access to greater application sources."

He added that IBM was hoping to develop more small and medium-sized 'complete solution' packages for companies and be a key player in the ASP market. "Open source will help them to do that reasonably cheaply and with IBM backing it, the open source movement is likely to grow until it is a little more professional in its outlook," he added.