Linux Use on Mainframes Will Continue to Rise, Predicts Survey

A recent global study of large enterprises commissioned by CA (News - Alert) found out that they continue to increase investment in Linux on the mainframe. Such investments help them to deliver more value to the business and at the same time control IT costs.

Linux on the mainframe is ideal for IT organizations that have to continue scaling the services they deliver to the business, even when their infrastructure budgets are constrained. According to Michael Zinda, senior vice president in CA's Mainframe Business Unit, this study proves that customers are aware of the value that Linux offers on the mainframe and also that the mainframe still remains an ongoing focus for IT investment. An IT management software provider, CA provides a comprehensive set of solutions to manage and secure z/VM and Linux environments on IBM's (News - Alert) System z platform.

Around100 IT executives and managers at companies with at least $2 billion in annual revenue were surveyed for the study. When asked about their use of the Linux operating system on IBM mainframes, 93 percent of respondents projected that their use of IBM's IFL (Integrated Facility for Linux) specialty mainframe processor would either increase or remain steady for the next two years. Almost 42 percent projected that their use of the IFL would grow between 21 percent and 40 percent, whereas 10 percent projected that it would grow more than 76 percent.

The survey also asked respondents to rate specific aspects of Linux on the mainframe as either challenges or advantages. Four aspects that were rated as advantageous are backup, restore and disaster recovery; the ability to scale to many virtual machines; security; and the availability of applications. Scalability received the strongest rating overall among these aspects.

Respondents cited two main reasons for the increased use of Linux on the mainframe. The first reason is the desire to take advantage of computing capacity available on their mainframe's central processors and/or IFLs. The cost-effectiveness of the usage of Linux on the mainframe when compared with other platforms is another reason for its increased use. By using Linux on the mainframe, companies also support "green" computing initiatives and infrastructure consolidation strategies.

TheInfoPro, an independent research network for IT executed the survey. All participants were either existing users or had plans to have Mainframe Linux in production within 18 months.