IBM and Univa Corporation today announced a joint agreement whereby IBM will license commercial releases of Globus software from Univa, the leading provider of commercial software and professional services for open source Globus software. Under the agreement, Univa will deliver a commercially supported and enterprise-ready release of open-standard software built around the Globus Toolkit for use across IBM's eServer platforms running both AIX and Linux, including IBM eServer, iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, zSeries and BladeCenter systems. IBM will also provide Univa with product development resources and technology assets to assist in the development, delivery and support of the Univa commercial releases on IBM platforms. Today's agreement further bolsters IBM's commitment to open source and open standards, as well as the Globus ecosystem of Grid infrastructure software. IBM has been instrumental in funding the development of many technologies that comprise the Globus Toolkit and continues to be active in contributing code and promoting Web service standards that Globus relies upon through its thought-leadership efforts in GGF, OASIS, W3C and many other standards communities. In addition, IBM is a founding member of the Globus Consortium, which drives best-practices patterns, funding and key requirements prioritization for the Globus open source community. IBM believes that the community-based approach to standards evolution and software delivery demonstrated by Globus is essential to continuing further adoption of Grid computing in commercial organizations. As part of the agreement, IBM plans to use the commercial releases of Globus software from Univa internally at IBM. "IBM is a founding member of the Globus Consortium and has worked closely with the Globus development community and the Globus ecosystem since its inception, investing millions of dollars in accelerating the adoption of Globus software in the commercial sector," said Ken King, Vice President, Grid Computing, IBM. "We will work closely with Univa on delivery of enterprise- ready implementations of Globus for IBM platforms in much the same way that IBM works with Red Hat and Novell to ensure Linux distributions on IBM platforms are at the forefront of the industry." "We're pleased to work with IBM as a significant partner and adopter of the commercial release of Univa Globus software," said Steve Tuecke, CEO of Univa and one of the original authors of the Globus Toolkit. "IBM has a long history of commitment to the Globus Toolkit, and it is now extending this support to Univa's efforts. We believe this agreement demonstrates the momentum behind Globus in the enterprise and validates the importance of open source in the success of Grid computing. IBM's extended commitment to Globus through this partnership will go a long way toward assuring enterprise IT customers that Globus-based Grid infrastructure is ready for prime time." Univa was formed in 2004 to provide commercial software, technical support, and professional services for Grid infrastructure based on open source Globus software. The founding team at Univa includes the three original architects of the Globus Toolkit-Steve Tuecke, Ian Foster, and Carl Kesselman. Over 1,000 Grid sites worldwide use Globus software, including the TeraGrid project, to access more than 40,000 CPUs and 10,000 terabytes of storage, making it by far the most widely-used Grid middleware on the market.