In a developer's medium, however, a keyboard is their easel, a CRT their canvas, and a resulting widget or application is their art form. As is the case with anyone who embodies the creative spirit, they don't like limitations, and they certainly don't like strict rules that tell them the exact process that they must use to create their desired end product. Sure, specifications must be met, but those specs optimally include a flexible operating system and malleable hardware, both of which will enable development of products that are different—and hopefully more functional—than those of their competitors.

For many developers considering a flexible environment for developing applications, they must first pick an operating system and a target processor. IBM believes that it can help. The company has been a long-time supporter of open source technology in general and Linux in particular. As for base silicon, few companies offer the wide range of possibilities inherent in IBM's Power architecture. The combination of these two starting points offers an extremely capable, yet accommodating, environment, commonly known as Linux on Power.

Why Linux?
Because Linux is open source technology, developers are given the choice of using it in its base form, purchasing it in supported packages from Red Hat, Novell (SUSE Linux), and others, or customizing it to suit their needs. It can be altered, hacked, and molded into just about any configuration necessary to operate an application, whether the target is a mainframe or tiny consumer device. Its allure is that, unlike Microsoft Windows and other OSs, it's quite possible to come up with an application-specific variant designed specifically for a single device. When the inevitable next generation of that device is on the drawing board, it can once again be altered to accommodate new configurations. Another advantage of Linux is that it serves not only as a background OS for a device or app, but as the interface through which consumers access it. As an added bonus, it's free—without any royalties associated with distribution in the end product.

Open source offers tremendous resources as well. If a development team is working n a project, it's quite possible that another team has worked on a similar project. The advantage here is that the community itself offers resources that can be used as a starting point for development. In addition, the community can be used as a barometer for the functionality of code. While commercial development teams rarely post their entire application for review, pieces of functionality can be made part of the public domain for feedback, debugging, and aiding other teams in development of their own products. That's an invaluable free resource that open source itself offers, and one which its supporters, whether they work within Linux, Eclipse, or other software environments, tout on a daily basis.

The elasticity of Linux should not be taken lightly. The kernel itself can be extended to support large applications and combinations of devices or stripped down to exactly the functionality needed for a given application. Its footprint can also be large or small. Most importantly, it can be hacked to provide an environment that is appropriate to the application and runs in the space allowed by the initial specifications. In addition, Linux runs on a seemingly endless variety of processors in a variety of forms, from ARM chips to the 64-bit multi-core, multiprocessing, IBM PowerPC 5.

IBM's Power Architecture
IBM's Power Architecture family is available in a variety of forms suitable for an equally wide variety of applications. The Power5 processor has 36 megabytes of L3 cache per processor core and is available in modules containing four processors, rather than as individual chips. Between the multiple cores, the caches, and the memory manager, the Power5 design offers a multiprocessing server in merely a few square inches of silicon.

Power processors and PowerPC chips are used in IBM's mainframes, servers, and workstations. However, even a relatively small device such Nintendo's game systems uses a chip based on the architecture. In other words, different siblings in the IBM Power family of products can be used for everything from handhelds to mainframes. Enterprise class servers, cell phones, and single-board computers use chips ranging from the PowerPC 740 and 750 Embedded Microprocessors to the PowerPC 5. One of the primary benefits of the Power Architecture is its ability to scale, not just in terms of increasing the number of processors, but from very small applications all the way up to large supercomputers like BlueGene/L, among the most powerful computers in the world—and based upon the Power Architecture.

Form and Function
IBM was number one in overall Linux-based server revenue worldwide in Q1 2005, according to Gartner Research. Approximately 40 percent of IBM's Linux-based server revenue comes from Linux on non x86-based systems, such as POWER processor-based servers and IBM eServer zSeries. And, according to IDC, Linux on IBM eServer OpenPower and pSeries were the primary contributors to IBM's Q1 2005 Linux server market share gain.

As mentioned above, however, IBM's Power Architecture is no longer just about servers. The architecture is inherently able to scale—both in silicon footprint and capabilities. Because IBM is committed to supporting and driving the use of Linux, all members of the Power Architecture family support the OS. This is reflected in IBM's Power Everywhere initiative, a plan to create an open environment and ecosystem for the Power Architecture. In tandem, the variety of Power Architecture processors offered by IBM and the flexibility provided by Linux give developers a platform many have been longing for: a creative space where they can customize devices and software to support the applications they envision.