Turbolinux to resell IBM tools

Turbolinux and IBM have extended their licensing agreement to allow the open source operating system distributor to sell Big Blue's software line.

As part of the global agreement, the companies will jointly market, distribute and support bundled IBM solutions based on Turbolinux that include IBM's DB2 Universal Database, WebSphere ecommerce software, Lotus Domino collaboration software, Tivoli management software and IBM's small business suite for Linux. IBM also plans to port Turbolinux to its zSeries mainframes, formerly known as the S/390 line.

The alliance is the latest in a string of Linux-based partnerships for IBM, which include agreements with Red Hat, SuSE and Caldera.

Dan Kusnetzky, an analyst with researcher IDC, said: "IBM appears to be doing its best to both remain neutral and to provide systems, services, training, application development, middleware and serverware, which will help Linux become a strategic platform for its customers."

Kusnetzky noted that this announcement helps the efforts of Turbolinux to become an enterprise Linux player rather than just be considered a supplier of Linux software and parallel processing software in Asia.

The agreement builds on the relationship between the two companies that began in 1999 when they announced DB2 Universal Database integration with a Linux distribution. IBM has since taken an equity stake in Turbolinux and the two firms have partnered on global support and services.

The companies' ebusiness and internet infrastructure software will be available in the first half of this year.