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IBM To Run VoIP On Linux

Posted by timothy on from the packetized dept.

hrhsoleil writes "Johnny Barnes, IBM's vice president of global IT solutions and standards, told attendees at a TechTarget conference this week that his company plans to migrate at least 80% of its more than 300,000 employees to voice over IP by 2008. The project will replace approximately 900 PBXs around the world with regional IP installations. IBM's server-based IP telephony platform is going to run on Linux."

6 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. Big Blue vs. The Banna Republic Phone Company by silentbozo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How is IBM going to handle irate state-owned telecos who are suddenly deprived of IBM monies? Will they grease the wheels with payola (less than they were paying for phone calls) or will Big Blue just tell them to go take a hike? Interested businesses want to know... is it safe for anyone to try and get around the monopolies now, or is it just safe for IBM?

    Hell, here in the good old USA the "regulators" are already clamoring over the loss of all that free money that they've been siphoning out of our checkbooks. I can't imagine a state OWNED monopoly from doing any differently...

  2. Great stuff for linux! by jubalj · · Score: 5, Insightful

    IBM's server-based IP telephony platform will run on Linux and provide gateways for connection to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) If the IBM software is affordable/GPLd, this could mean another jump in the popularity of GNU/linux! oh.. n that VoIP thing too..

  3. You've got it all wrong by MarcQuadra · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's the most back-ass reasoning I've ever heard. Companies don't just hoarde their savings, they spend it on shit they want but can't have without savings in other areas.

    IBM isn't going to bank the savings from this Linux stuff, they're going to roll it into R&D (jobs), growth (jobs), and some bonuses for executives (trickle-down jobs, hopefully).

    If we all played by your reasoning we'd have a really... Amish way of life right now.

    Plus, this will create LINUX jobs instead of IBM-proprietary jobs, how can you argue against that?

    --
    "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
  4. not insignificant by benjonson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    2008 sounds like a long time away, like vague future planning. But big companies need to do long-range planning, and it is significant that IBM sees Linux as the operating system in that future. It is almost a done deal - when major corporations imagine Linux as central to the future, Linux becomes central to the future.

    --
    =-+
  5. Shameless plug by jmv · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Of course I'm biased, but I hope the use an open-source codec.

    --
    Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
  6. Re:That's great! by Tailhook · · Score: 4, Insightful

    economy will not gain any boost

    Please attempt to calculate the value-add of a product such as Eclipse. IBM handed that to the world for free. They did this because IBM is a smart, well run company that knows how to make itself valuable in the marketplace. Eventually they'll save a big wad of cash when they stop paying inflated prices for proprietary PBX hardware and maintenance, and in a small way that will eventually contribute to the next moral equivalent of Eclipse.

    Linux advocacy, giving AMD Opteron a huge credibility boost, one of the best JVM implementations, a world class IDE for free... You geeks need to show IBM some love. They are one of the good guys.

    --
    Maw! Fire up the karma burner!