Record number of students in IBM's Second Linux Scholar Challenge

Today, IBM is announcing the winners of it's second Linux Scholar Challenge.
The top 20 Linux student programmers were selected from more
than 2,871 entries from 646 universities in 68 countries, nearly double the
number of entries received last year.

The students receive IBM Thinkpads running Linux.  Indian Institute of
Technology (ITT) was awarded an IBM Linux cluster for having the most
winning entries.

The overwhelming response demonstrates that students around the world are
turning to Linux to develop cutting edge technology.  A student from IIT
took top honors with a Linux project that uses wireless video sensors to
solve security and surveillance problems.

In an endeavor to focus the enthusiasm of students familiar with Linux, IBM
created the Linux Scholar Challenge in 2001, enabling university students
across the globe to use open source resources to create Linux applications.
In 2001 IBM received more than 1,400 registrations from 64 countries.

A press release outlining the projects and locations of the 20 winners is
included.  Students and IBM executives are available to speak to you about
the Challenge and the winning submissions. If interested, please call me at
212-871-4077.

Kind regards,
Bernadette Rose
Text 100 for IBM
212-871-4077

	20 STUDENTS WORLDWIDE, INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY WIN IBM's 2nd
LINUX CHALLENGE

	Participation doubles globally, mission critical applications
increase

	SOMERS, NEW YORK - March 19, 2003 - The Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) in Delhi, India, today has been named the top winner of
IBM's Second Linux® Scholar Challenge. The university has been awarded a
16-node IBM eServer(tm) xSeries(tm) cluster running Linux.  IIT received the
highest overall average score among student winners from the 646
universities that enrolled in the challenge.

	A total of twenty individual winners were selected from the 2,871
students who registered from 646 universities in 68 countries. The winners
reflect the worldwide reach of Linux, heralding from the United States,
India, Pakistan, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, France,
Hungary Rumania and Singapore.  For their ingenuity and prowess with Linux
development, the twenty winners will receive IBM ThinkPad® laptops running
Linux. The projects represented a wide-range of Linux applications, from
enhancing existing security and monitoring applications to building a
network of Linux-based translation tools to create unified global
communications.  All the final projects can be viewed at
http://www.ibm.com/university/linuxchallenge.

	"These young people represent the next generation of Linux
innovators," said Jim Stallings, General  Manager, Worldwide Linux, IBM.
"We are proud to have the opportunity to work with them and to do what we
can to fuel their interest in Linux.  The tremendous worldwide interest in
the Linux Scholar Challenge shows how much progress is being made in opening
up the infrastructure to the next generation of innovative enterprise
applications."

	Of the 20 winners, three qualified winners will be offered Summer
2003 internships at IBM's Linux Technology Center, where they will have an
opportunity to work on IBM Linux projects with IBM's dedicated Linux
programming laboratory.  The results of their work during the internship
will be incorporated into IBM Linux products and technology that will drive
the next phase of e-business. 

	IBM created the "Challenge" in 2001 to help focus the enthusiasm of
students familiar with the open source Linux operating system and the
workings of the open source community. In the spirit of the open community,
students are encouraged to consult with others, research the problem and use
all open source resources to obtain the best results. In the first year of
the Challenge, IBM received more than 1,400 registrations from 64 countries.


	Contest winners were selected by an IBM panel of technologists from
IBM Research, the IBM Linux Technology Center, and other IBM developers
involved with Linux.

	Already well known for its strong IT community, India represented 20
percent of the winning projects. Projects were given high marks for
creativity, thoroughness, clarity, and results. Neeraj Kumar, from ITT, the
winning university, submitted a WISECAM-Wireless Sensor Cam that solved
several security and surveillance problems using wireless video sensors. 

	Other winning examples from around the world include:
		Columbia: Juan Baptiste, Pontificia Universidade Javeriana -
Provided a solution for improving an existing open source implementation of
a NAT-PT router;
		India: Shashank Khanna, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of
Information and Communication Technology - Proposed a project that utilizes
Linux servers around the world to use the power of voice recognition systems
and text to speech converters to facilitate global human communication;
		Canada: Yu Zhou, University of Western Ontario - Submitted a
Linux solution for Object-Oriented Persistence Framework and XML Persistence
Layer; and 
		France: Sylvain Becker, Institut Superieure d'electronique -
Created an application that offers webmasters a solution to integrate a
Neural Network to their website.

	Winners from the United States include:
		New York, NY: HAOQIANG ZHENG, Columbia University - A Linux
scheduler with automatic processing dependency;
		Cornell, NY: BRIAN KOWOLOWSKI, Cornell University - Provided
an addition of name-based virtual hosting support to the Transport Control
Protocol;
		Cornell, NY: WARREN WONG, Cornell University - For a
Completely Extensible GUI Performance Monitoring Tool for Linux;
		Chicago, IL: HITESH KUMAR, Illinois Institute for Technology
- A new Message Passing scheme called Mailslots, to provide user with a
means of inter process communication for sending and receiving discrete
messages; and
		Lincoln, NE: XIN LIU, University of Nebraska - For a Linux
application focusing on Protocol Translation.

	About IBM
	IBM is the world's number one server company and information
technology provider, with 80 years of  leadership in helping businesses
innovate.   IBM helps customers, business partners and developers in a  wide
range of  industries that leverage the power of the Internet for e-business.
For more information, visit http://www.ibm.com

	# # #

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