Subject: Final Press Release: IBM EXTENDS SOFTWARE LEADERSHIP ON LINUX
To: kgill@brodeur.com
From: kgill@brodeur.com
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 12:45:08 -0500


Following is a final press release from today's IBM announcement:

Contact: Lori Bosio
IBM Media Relations
(914) 766-1408, FAX (914) 766-8188
pager: 888-661-3745
email: bosiol@us.ibm.com


                    IBM EXTENDS SOFTWARE LEADERSHIP ON LINUX
         Delivers Three Linux-Support Firsts, Breaks New Ground on the
                                   Mainframe


SOMERS, NY --- December 8, 2000 --- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new
e-infrastructure software for Linux.*  The announcement is IBM's latest
initiative to support Linux throughout its portfolio of e-business
software, servers and services and gives IBM the broadest database Linux
support in the industry, from handheld devices to the mainframe.

The company is also delivering three Linux-support firsts, including:
   The availability of DB2 Universal Database** for Linux on Intel-based
   clusters;
   The only commercial database software available for Linux on the
   mainframe; and
   The only Web application server software, WebSphere,** available for
   Linux on the mainframe

According to IDC, Linux became the number two operating system in 1999 in
new server shipments with 1.3 million licenses.  IDC anticipates Linux to
remain the fastest growing server operating system through 2004, with a
compound annual growth rate of 28 percent from 2000 to 2004.  The market
opportunity for software on Linux is expected to grow even faster, with
relational database servers expected to increase from $30 million in 2000
to $3.4 billion in 2004, a compound annual growth rate of 226 percent.

"Linux is seeing increasing usage as a part of basic IT infrastructure at
many organizations," said Dan Kusnetzky, Vice President of System Software
Research at IDC in Framingham, Mass. "Over half of the respondents in one
of IDC's demand-side studies indicated that they considered their Linux
applications to be 'major' applications.  IBM has positioned itself well to
be considered one of the leading suppliers in this emerging market."

Today's news follows on the heels of the first major commercial Linux
installation in Europe. Telia, Scandanavia's largest telecommunications and
Internet service provider, announced it will replace 70 existing
Web-hosting Unix servers with a single IBM S/390 server.  The company will
also move its current storage servers to a 11.4 terabyte Enterprise Storage
Server (Shark) and replace its existing customer billing system based on an
Oracle database.

IBM is delivering the following additions to its Linux software portfolio.
DB2 and WebSphere products for Linux are available as integrated solutions
for companies wishing to develop Web applications on top of a database
server.

   DB2 Enterprise-Extended Edition (EEE), the industry's first offering for
   Intel-based clusters on Linux, a solution for multi-terabyte databases
   supporting multiple processors through server clustering.
   DB2 Enterprise Edition (EE), the industry's only Linux database offering
   on the IBM zSeries** and S/390 platforms.
   DB2 Connect, the industry's first solution to allow customers to access
   their DB2 data on the mainframe directly from Web connected applications
   using DB2 on Linux on the same server.
   WebSphere Application Server, Advanced Edition, Version 3.5, which
   supports high-performance, scalable Web sites, is the industry's only
   Linux Web application server software offering for the zSeries and S/390
   servers; this software is also being delivered for Linux running on
   Intel-based servers.
   WebSphere Application Server, Standard Edition, Version 3.5 for Linux
   running on Intel servers, which helps  developers quickly transform
   static Web sites into vital sources of dynamic Web content.

According to a recent Zona Research study, 80 percent of respondents found
operating stability and reliability to be the most important attributes for
customers choosing Linux.   IBM is also providing customers with a
cost-effective alternative for deployment as their business grows with
support for both Intel-based servers and the ability to scale to multiple
Linux images with Linux for zSeries and S/390 servers.

By deploying DB2 and WebSphere on Linux, developers can benefit from
increased productivity by taking advantage of a write-once development
code.  For example, a customer deploying DB2 for Linux on an Intel-based
server such as eServer xSeries can easily upgrade to a zSeries server
without the need  to develop new Linux code to support the upgrade.  With
support for the zSeries and S/390 servers, customers benefit from the
unmatched reliability and scalability of DB2 and WebSphere and can benefit
from reduced costs by consolidating multiple Linux servers onto one server
platform.

Distributor Support
Today's announcements are supported by the world's leading Linux
distributors including Red Hat, SuSE and TurboLinux, who have long
supported  IBM's Linux-based hardware and software portfolio.
Additionally, IBM's DB2 and WebSphere have been chosen by all three
distributors as their standard infrastructure software.   Unlike other
databases, all three vendors bundle DB2 with their packaged Linux
solutions.  Red Hat also features IBM's WebSphere Application Server as
part of a packaged Linux solution.

IBM Software For Linux
Today's news follows on the heels of recent new offerings from IBM
including IBM's Small Business Suite for Linux, which includes DB2,
WebSphere Application Server and Lotus Domino.  IBM also recently
introduced the availability of DB2 Everyplace and WebSphere Commerce Suite
for Linux providing customers with an unlimited choice of solutions.

Customers can now take advantage of the reliability of Linux on the highly
scalable zSeries and S/390 platforms coupled with the scalability and
reliability of DB2 and WebSphere software. Grede Foundries, an iron and
steel castings manufacturer, is successfully using DB2 Connect for Linux on
the mainframe to consolidate a large collection of servers into one,
thereby decreasing administration costs and connectivity issues.

Additionally, legacy IMS data can now easily be accessed from applications
deployed on the Linux platform with the recently released connectivity
tool, IMS Connect. This technology provides customers with transmission
rates in excess of 4000 transactions per second and extends the IMS High
Availability Large Database solution for multi-terabyte databases to the
world of Linux applications.   Also, IBM is introducing a new release of
the CICS Transaction Gateway software product for Linux, which becomes
available later this month.  The software facilitates the connection of the
Web to CICS transactions, via WebSphere running on Linux on the mainframe.

Availability
The new product offerings for DB2 Universal Database for Linux will be
generally available on December 15, 2000.  The new product offerings for
WebSphere for Linux on Intel will be generally available December 22, 2000
and WebSphere for the zSeries servers will be generally available on
January 26, 2001.

About IBM
IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with more than
80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate.  IBM Software offers
the widest range of applications, middleware and operating systems for all
types of computing platforms, allowing customers to take full advantage of
the new era of e-business.   For more information about IBM software, see
the home page at http://www.software.ibm.com. For additional information
about IBM's Linux initiatives: http://ibm.com/linux For additional
information on IBM's data management solutions, please visit
http://www.software.ibm.com/data. More information about the WebSphere
software platform is on the Web at http://www.ibm.com/websphere.

*Indicates trademark or registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

** Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corporation or its subsidiaries. The IBM eServer brand consists of
the established IBM e-business logo with the following descriptive term
"server" following it. All other trademarks are properties of their
respective companies.

Lori Bosio
IBM Media Relations
(914) 766-1408, FAX (914) 766-8188
pager: 888-661-3745
email: bosiol@us.ibm.com