IBM and Red Hat have announced a long-term alliance designed to improve Linux support for the companies' corporate customers. The alliance will focus on Red Hat's business-grade Linux product -- Advanced Server -- and will target services and expanded support for software and servers.

The deal addresses the following areas:

• Software: IBM will make a number of its software products available on Red Hat Linux Advanced Server, first with Intel-based servers such as the eServer xSeries this year and then expanding with other eServer hardware in 2003. WebSphere J2EE infrastructure software, the DB2 database, and Tivoli and Lotus software will all run on Advanced Server, IBM says. At the time of the announcement, WebSphere and DB2 support Advanced Server on the xSeries servers; as IBM adds Advanced Server support across the other eServer products (iSeries, pSeries, and zSeries), it will also add support for its four software brands. (Lotus Domino R5 server and the various editions of WebSphere Application Server 4.0 are currently available on the Caldera, Red Hat, Suse, and Turbolinux distributions for Intel processors.)
• Hardware: Red Hat will offer Red Hat Linux Advanced Server for IBM's eServer zSeries, iSeries, and pSeries. IBM Global Services will offer support for Red Hat Linux Advanced Server on the entire eServer product line. Red Hat will also offer support for Advanced Server on zSeries, iSeries, and pSeries servers (it already supports the product on xSeries servers).
• Services: IBM Global Services will provide Red Hat Linux Advanced Server and Red Hat Network managed software services, and complement them with joint service and support offerings. The two companies will also collaborate and package each other's consulting and service offerings so that they can tailor support offerings.