IBM Chiphopper
Chiphopper is a component of the IBM eServer products specifically tailored to the GNU/Linux operating system. IBM developed the server products in a collaborative effort with Red Hat and Novell of SUSE Linux ownership at the time.[1] The official name of the product suite is IBM Systems Application Advantage for Linux. Chiphopper is a set of system support and testing tools designed to assist development and porting of Linux x86 applications onto other IBM systems and middleware platforms. The Chiphopper offering helps developers whose applications run on x86 Linux systems by providing tools to scrub their C/C++ code for portability prior to porting to Power Architecture and System z systems. Source hardware platforms for 32- and 64-bit applications are x86, EM64T, and AMD systems running Linux Standard Base (LSB) 3.x certified Linux distributions.[2][3]
Then-vice president of IBM Linux Scott Handy described the introduction of the project as "Customers came to IBM saying, 'I really want to put Linux on this new OpenPower server or on a partition on pSeries, but the application I want is only available on Linux on x86.' They loved our approach, but they felt like their hands were tied behind their backs because the apps weren't there-not all of the time, but some of the time. Multiplatform Linux is already a reality with our customers and our ISVs, and the introduction of our Chiphopper offering will accelerate that process. Linux on x86 is already huge, and the Chiphopper offering will not only increase that market opportunity, but also expand it to additional platforms faster than what was possible."[4]