NEWS BRIEFS

Paris, FRANCE — Shell International Exploration & Production B.V. and IBM today announced that they will work together to develop and deploy the world’s largest Linux supercomputer. The supercomputer will comprise 1024 IBM X-Series servers, packaged in 32 racks, all running Linux.

Shell will use this supercomputer to run Seismic and other geophysical applications as a key part of its exploration initiatives. Data collected in Shell exploration surveys, will be fed into the supercomputer. The supercomputer will facilitate massive analytical and calculation capabilties in researching the data.

“The fact that Shell has decided to run these applications on an IBM Linux supercomputer demonstrates that Linux is coming of age,” said Irving Wladawsky Berger IBM Vice President of Technology and Strategy. “It shows that Linux can scale to meet the high-workload demands of even the most progressive supercomputing tasks.

The announcement comes just days after Swedish telecom operator Telia said it would use a large Linux mainframe to serve all its Internet subscribers, replacing a collection of Sun Microsystems servers. “Linux is coming of age,” said one source close to the deal. Linux, developed by the Fin Linus Torvalds and a group of volunteers on the Web, has been embraced by International Business Machines Corp as a flexible alternative to licensed software systems such as Microsoft’s Windows or the Unix platforms. With Linux companies can quickly add or remove computers without worrying about licences for the operating software. Over the past year the software has been tested and trialled for business critical applications. Major deals have now started to come through.

IBM is the world’s largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business. The fastest way to get more information about IBM is through the IBM home page at http://www.ibm.com .

============================================================