Major information technology firms, including <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2125452,00.asp?kc=EWNAVEMNL050407EOAD">Oracle, IBM, and NEC,</A> will set up a consortium to sell servers and systems running the Linux operating system in Japan, a financial daily said on Thursday.

It would be the first time in the world that major IT firms join hands to market equipment running the free software, the Nikkei newspaper said.