<s>
The	O
Integrated	B-Application
Facility	I-Application
for	I-Application
Linux	I-Application
(	O
IFL	O
)	O
is	O
an	O
IBM	B-Device
mainframe	I-Device
and	O
Power	B-Device
Systems	I-Device
processor	O
dedicated	O
to	O
running	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
operating	I-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
IBM	B-Device
Z	I-Device
and	O
IBM	B-Application
LinuxONE	I-Application
machines	O
,	O
IFLs	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
with	O
or	O
without	O
hypervisors	B-Operating_System
such	O
as	O
z/VM	B-Application
and	O
KVM	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
IFLs	O
are	O
one	O
of	O
three	O
most	O
common	O
types	O
of	O
"	O
specialty	O
"	O
IBM	B-Device
mainframe	I-Device
processors	O
that	O
give	O
software	O
vendors	O
(	O
and	O
their	O
customers	O
)	O
more	O
granular	O
control	O
over	O
software	O
licensing	O
and	O
maintenance	O
costs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microcode	B-Device
restricts	O
IFLs	O
to	O
Linux	B-Application
workload	O
by	O
omitting	O
some	O
processor	O
instructions	O
not	O
used	O
by	O
the	O
Linux	B-Application
kernel	O
(	O
that	O
other	O
operating	O
systems	O
use	O
)	O
,	O
but	O
the	O
underlying	O
processors	O
are	O
physically	O
identical	O
to	O
general	O
purpose	O
processors	O
(	O
CPs	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
IBM	O
adds	O
features	O
and	O
performance	O
improvements	O
to	O
its	O
mainframes	O
 '	O
general	O
purpose	O
main	O
processors	O
(	O
which	O
can	O
also	O
run	O
Linux	B-Application
)	O
,	O
those	O
features	O
and	O
improvements	O
nearly	O
always	O
apply	O
equally	O
to	O
IFLs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
fact	O
,	O
in	O
recent	O
IBM	B-Device
Z	I-Device
machines	O
IFLs	O
support	O
simultaneous	B-Operating_System
multithreading	I-Operating_System
,	O
a	O
feature	O
not	O
available	O
for	O
general	O
purpose	O
processors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
,	O
IBM	O
introduced	O
a	O
special	O
Linux-only	O
,	O
VM-like	O
product	O
called	O
the	O
S/390	O
Virtual	O
Image	O
Facility	O
for	O
Linux	B-Application
to	O
cater	O
to	O
IT	O
staff	O
previously	O
unfamiliar	O
with	O
IBM	B-Device
mainframes	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
IBM	O
soon	O
discovered	O
that	O
z/VM	B-Application
was	O
not	O
too	O
difficult	O
for	O
new	O
IT	O
staff	O
to	O
learn	O
(	O
and	O
worked	O
better	O
)	O
,	O
so	O
IBM	O
withdrew	O
S/390	O
Virtual	O
Image	O
Facility	O
for	O
Linux	B-Application
from	O
marketing	O
on	O
April	O
30	O
,	O
2002	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Customers	O
could	O
purchase	O
IFLs	O
for	O
all	O
IBM	B-Device
mainframes	I-Device
as	O
far	O
back	O
as	O
the	O
G5	O
series	O
and	O
can	O
purchase	O
IFLs	O
for	O
all	O
recent	O
IBM	B-Device
Z	I-Device
and	O
LinuxONE	B-Application
machine	O
models	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
IFLs	O
also	O
support	O
select	O
IBM	O
software	O
appliances	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
IBM	O
Db2	O
Analytics	O
Accelerator	O
,	O
zAware	O
,	O
and	O
z/VSE	B-Application
Network	O
Appliance	O
,	O
and	O
they	O
also	O
supported	O
the	O
Z	O
port	O
of	O
the	O
now	O
abandoned	O
OpenSolaris	B-Operating_System
operating	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
Power	B-Device
Systems	I-Device
IFLs	O
are	O
also	O
specially	O
priced	O
for	O
both	O
the	O
processors	O
and	O
many	O
software	O
products	O
.	O
</s>
