Real-World Unix/Linux
IBM System/390: The Linux Dream Machine
Running 41,400 Linux virtual machine O/S on a single IBM S/390 mainframe:
[...] This gets better: nobody ever said you could
only run one VM Linux system at a time. In fact, you can run multiples
of Linux just as you run multiples of CMS. Just imagine one physical computer
with several thousand copies of Linux running on it simultaneously, and
each of these supporting multiple user connections. Fantasy? I have heard from
one system administrator, David Boyes at Dimension Enterprises, who decided to
push the envelope on this. His test system finally ran out of resources at
41,400 Linux images. That's not a typo--there were forty-one thousand
copies of Linux running on one logical partition of one mainframe, under VM.
[...]
Adam Thornton of Flathead Software fired up a 390 emulator
called "Hercules" (originally designed to emulate 370-series
mainframes on Intel hardware) underneath Linux underneath VM. Then he ran
another Linux boot underneath that. The hack value of this is just,
well, way cool.
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/1532/1
Banco Mercantil Moves to Linux on IBM Mainframe
Venezuelan Bank is First Financial Institution with SuSE Linux
IBM and Banco Mercantil today announced that Banco Mercantil is the first
Latin American company -- and among the first financial institutions anywhere
-- to implement Linux for the enterprise.
In the first phase of the project, Banco Mercantil has replaced 30 existing
NT servers with a single IBM mainframe. Later, applications currently running
on Sun and HP servers will be moved to the new Linux platform. In addition,
the bank is using Linux mainframe Web applications to enable customers to
check bank account information via the Internet. The mainframe's two
cryptographic co-processors provide the high level of security necessary for
sensitive financial data. [...]
http://www.suse.com/us/suse/news/PressReleases/Banco_Mercantil.html
Free Software Leaders Stand Together
A response to Microsoft's claim that Open Source software is unworkable:
[...] With very little funding, the GNU/Linux system has become a
significant player in many major markets, from Internet servers to embedded
devices. Our GUI desktop projects have astounded the software industry by
going from zero to being comparable with or superior to others in only 4
years. Workstation manufacturers like Sun and HP have selected our desktops to
replace their own consortium projects, because our work was better. An entire
industry has been built around Free Software, and is growing rapidly despite
an unfavorable market. The success of software companies like Red Hat, and the
benefits to vendors such as Dell and IBM, demonstrate that Free Software is
not at all incompatible with business. [...]
http://perens.com/Articles/StandTogether.html