IBM did a 1bn USD investment creating the market for Linux based enterprise infrastructure, "vendor independent" on all their server products (PPC, s390 itanic

IBM did a 1bn USD investment creating the market for Linux based enterprise infrastructure, "vendor independent" on all their server products (PPC, s390 itanic and once available x68 based servers), with all IBM software products (db/2, websphere, ...) available "certified" on sles, RHEL and some Asian localized Linux variants. this created an immense Push on HP, dell, Dec, sgi, ... to follow suit and oracle, sap, Software AG, anything serious. this push and commitment b IBM was.so.relevant because it established Linux as a serious platform with enterprise level SLAs and mutual commitments for the full stack. the 4d chess was to establish a solid consulting business for "consolidation" on the "single platform" and it paid off immensely for IBM --- and for most others. given the IBM market position around 2000 this was pivotal and prophetic.