IBM wants to shrink the Linux server installed base

IBM says the 1.6 million stand-alone Linux servers running in enterprise data centers is too many. It's not Linux IBM has a thing against; it's the physical server hardware running the operating system.

To slim down Linux hardware deployments, IBM recently introduced a powerful Linux server - System p5 560Q. The device is the company's latest server virtualization workhorse, which IBM says can squeeze 320 stand-alone x86 Linux servers into a rack of p5 560Qs.

IBM wants to shrink the Linux server installed base.