The next step in the evolution of the UNIX OS

Businesses today need to maximize the return on investment in information technology. Their IT infrastructure should have the flexibility to quickly adjust to changing business computing requirements and scale to handle ever expanding workloads—without adding complexity. But just providing flexibility and performance isn’t enough; the IT infrastructure also needs to provide rock solid security and near-continuous availability and while managing energy and cooling costs.

These are just some of the reasons why more and more businesses are choosing the AIX operating system (OS) running on IBM systems designed with Power Architecture? technology. With its proven scalability, advanced virtualization, security, manageability and reliability features, the AIX OS is an excellent choice for building an IT infrastructure. And, AIX is the only operating system that leverages decades of IBM technology innovation designed to provide the highest level of performance and reliability of any UNIX operating system.

The newest version of AIX, Version 6.1, is binary compatible with previous versions of the AIX OS, including AIX 5L? and even earlier versions of AIX. This means that applications that ran on earlier versions will continue to run on AIX 6.1—guaranteed.1 AIX 6.1 is an open standards-based UNIX OS that is designed to comply with the Open Group’s Single UNIX Specification Version 3.

AIX 6.1 runs on systems based on POWER4?, PPC970, POWER5? and the latest generation of POWER? processor, POWER6. Most of the new features of AIX 6.1 are available on the earlier POWER processor-based platforms, but the most capability is delivered on systems built with the new POWER6 processors. The AIX OS is designed for the IBM Power?, System p?, System i?, System p5?, System i5?, eServer? p5, eServer pSeries? and eServer i5 server product lines, as well as IBM BladeCenter? blades based on Power Architecture technology and IBM IntelliStation? POWER workstations.

AIX 6.1 extends the capabilities of the AIX OS to include new virtualization approaches including the ability to relocate applications between systems without restarting the application, new security features to improve and simplify security administration, new availability features inspired by IBM legacy systems and numerous features designed to make the AIX OS easier and less expensive to manage. This AIX release underscores IBM’s firm commitment to long-term UNIX innovations that deliver business value. This release of AIX continues the evolution of the UNIX OS that started in Austin, Texas, with AIX on the RT PC and the RISC Systems/6000? (RS/6000).