IBM brings Power blades to telcos

IBM's JS20 blade server, a model based on Big Blue's PowerPC 970FX processor, now is available for use in the BladeCenter T chassis designed for telecommunications customers, the company said Tuesday. The BladeCenter T is a version of the blade chassis that meets telecommunication industry needs for withstanding shock, smoke and extreme temperatures; previously IBM only sold blade servers with Intel's Xeon chips for the chassis.

In addition, IBM will load versions of Linux on the systems and integrate it with software from Motorola, Fujitsu Siemens and Clovis. The move puts more pressure on Sun Microsystems, which counts telephone companies and financial services companies as core customers.