Linux continued its long haul to datacentre credibility this week at the LinuxWorld event in San Francisco when a series of big-name vendors began announcing supportive moves.

IBM led the way by announcing plans to target open-source opportunities including cross-platform applications, development tools, web application servers, database servers and systems management tools. The initiative will also include new IBM contributions to the Linux kernel, including support for its Cell processor, security and virtualisation code.

Lenovo said although it would not pre-install Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 on its ThinkPad T60p laptops, it would fully support users who install this operating system. However, the move is limited to what Lenovo called “mobile workstations” aimed at electronic engineers in IC and board design. The systems are based on Intel’s latest Centrino Duo processors but the choice of 14-inch and 15-inch screens might be limiting for this category of users.

Although it is very much a niche, the move represents the first time IBM has offered direct technical support for Linux mobile PC buyers. However, Novell will continue to support core operating system issues, Lenovo said.

Lenovo, Intel and Novell worked together on the offering and said they are currently certifying engineering from applications from firms including Cadence, Synopsys and Mentor Graphics.

HP said it would support the Debian Linux distribution, including a new thin client, the HPt5725, which can be customised for particular industries. HP will take technical support calls directly but will not offer pre-installed Debian systems.

In other LinuxWorld news, Sun added more details to its plans to open-source Java, while IBM announced a version of its Sametime instant messaging client for Linux, and Trolltech  updated its Linux-based mobile phone platform software with voice over IP (VoIP) support. Real Networks said it would launch a Linux version of its media player software.

Despite rumours, Oracle has not yet announced plans for a Linux distribution of its own. Comments made by Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison in a recent interview, encouraged some sites to predict that a Red Hat-based Oracle distribution would be announced at LinuxWorld.

However, the database giant did say it was extending pre-testing on more Linux distributions.

EnterpriseDB said its Replication Server is now available and the program can replicate Oracle data for backup or other purposes.