In an effort to vault its Power processors into more widespread use, IBM plans to announce Monday a new, inexpensive server line called OpenPower that can run just the Linux operating system.

The products, which use the new Power5 processor, run the open-source software but not AIX or i5/OS, the IBM operating systems that more commonly run on the Power machines, according to sources familiar with the plan.

IBM is expected to price the line aggressively, sources said. The low cost would position the OpenPower products not only against lower-end Unix servers from Sun Microsystems based on the UltraSparc processor but also against servers from a number of companies using x86 chips such as Intel's Xeon and Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron.
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Source : CNET News