Project Monterey, IBM's next-generation Unix operating system, which supports Linux applications and runs on Intel's 64bit processors (IA-64), will be released this year under the name AIX 5L.

The announcement comes a week after Monterey's future had been thrown into doubt by Caldera's acquisition of SCO, its Monterey development partner.

AIX 5L is optimised to run on both IA-64 and the Power4 Risc processors used in the Regatta line of servers that IBM will launch next year.

Hewlett Packard (HP) has also announced that it will launch Linux Runtime Environment for HP-UX next year, which will allow Linux applications to run on HP-UX without the need to recompile. HP also said it will add support for Suse, Turbo Linux and Caldera Linux versions to its commercial PC and server lines.

Phil Dawson, Unix analyst at MetaGroup, said the announcements aimed to attract the developer community and take Linux into the high end Unix market. "Linux is still too immature for the data centre," he said.

AIX 5L is expected to ship this year, but Linux support will not be available until an interim update - version 5.1 - is shipped in the first half of next year. Linux applications will have to be recompiled for AIX 5L.

IBM is also planning full binary compatibility and common system management.

According to analyst IDC, SCO has a 37 per cent share of the Unix market in terms of server licences sold, compared with Sun Microsystem's 22 per cent. With IBM's 13.5 per cent share, Monterey could represent the largest Unix flavour in terms of operating system shipments.

First published in Computer Reseller News