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IBM and Red Hat are promising to provide technical backup to software developers around the world with additional resources, expertise and implementation services to help them port and certify new applications to IBM software and hardware and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

The companies say they will provide developers with technical resources and development support at IBM Innovation Centres in fifteen locations across Asia, North America and Europe including Beijing, Shanghai, Bangalore and Seoul. At the IBM Innovation Centres, IBM says it will offer consulting support and technical expertise to help programmers migrate, test, develop and implement their applications for Red Hat Enterprise Linux

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on IBM platforms.

As part of the initiative, IBM is offering 29 new Linux skill-building tutorials on developerWorks, IBM's resource for developers. The company says that already some 250,000 developers visit developerWorks' Linux zone, and more than 10,000 developers use developerWorks' Linux tutorials.

For its part, Red Hat will supply copies of Enterprise Linux with supporting documentation and access to Red Hat Network. The company will offer onsite registration for Red Hat's Technology Partner Program to help ISVs certify their applications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM hardware and middleware.

The aim of the programme is to provide tomorrow's programmers and developers in the emerging markets with expertise in Linux before Microsoft does the same with Windows. Both camps not only perceive the future of the emerging markets themselves but increasingly programmers trained in these countries are being snapped up to fill the skills gaps in developed economies. Furthermore, IBM and Red Hat will feel they are pushing at an open door as many governments in emerging economies see Linux as an opportunity to develop a homegrown IT base rather than rely on proprietary code imported from the US.