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Back to the Future: IBM Introduces the eServer z990 IBM has introduced the eServer
zSeries z990, the company’s new flagship mainframe
computing solution. According to IBM, the z990 offers significant
enhancements over the company’s eServer z900
mainframe including: ▫
On/Off
Capacity on Demand (CoD) solutions, which allow IBM
mainframe customers to power up and off available engines as they are needed. ▫
A
new IBM multichip module (MCM) processing engine
design providing the z990 up to twice the processor capacity and a 60% performance
improvement over z900 solutions for Linux, ebusiness,
and traditional workloads. ▫
Delivery
of up to 11,000 Secure Socket Layer (SSL) transactions per second on a sixteen-way
z990, a 57% improvement over a sixteen-way z900. ▫
Support
for up to thirty logical partitions (LPARs),
providing twice as many virtual servers as the z900. ▫
Provide
for up to 512 I/O channels, double the number of the z900, and up to sixteen HiperSockets, or quadruple the number on the z900, for
high-speed TCP/IP connectivity between virtual servers. ▫
Up
to 256GB of memory, four times that of the z900. ▫
Software
and services designed or enhanced specifically for the z990 from IBM TotalStorage, ▫
Simplified
product structure that reduces the number of mainframe models from forty-two
to four. The z990 will be available in 8-, 16-, 24-, and 32-way
configurations. ▫
New
pricing and financing models, including changes in IBM’s Workload License
Charge (WLC) which lower the entry point for variable priced products, and
IBM Global Financing options for On/Off CoD. ▫
Mainframe
On Demand solutions provided by IBM Global Services.
Which will provide mainframe capabilities in a utility model via IBM On Demand Data Centers. Pricing/Availability The IBM eServer z990
models A08 and B16 will be available on Net/Net Originally conceived, developed, and deployed during
the Jurassic era of computing, IBM mainframes beat the odds in avoiding both
extinction and fossilization, and remain vital elements in enterprise
datacenters worldwide. Most of IBM’s competitors jumped out of the mainframe
market years ago and like to claim that today mainframes belong in museums.
Ironically enough, many of these same IT vendors vociferously claim that
their own solutions offer “mainframe-like” capabilities, hoping to polish to
their products by rhetorically buffing them with the considerable mojo mainframes possess in areas such as scalability,
dependability, resilience, and security. This is a natural enough, if largely inaccurate,
response to a tough IT market where customers are increasingly demanding
provable business value bang before they part with their hard-earned bucks.
So given these circumstances, do the z990’s numerous enhancements raise the
stakes for its customers or drive a stake into the hearts of the competition?
In a word, yes. But we believe a bit of historical perspective might cast
some light on what IBM is up to with the z990. IBM has had to walk a difficult tight rope with its
mainframe products. At one end are the thousands of large enterprises that
make up the bulk of the company’s traditional mainframe client base while at
the other stands a less certain host of new potential mainframe customers.
The trick for IBM has been to develop solutions that enhance the lives of
traditional clients and entice the imaginations and IT budgetary decisions of
new customers. To successfully step across the heady drop separating the two
groups, IBM developed signature zSeries solutions
that significantly improved traditional workload performance while at the
same time leveraging SSL-, Linux-, and LPAR-related technologies, allowing
the company to promote the zSeries as a high-end
solution for ebusiness and datacenter
consolidation. Further, IBM introduced the z800 “mini” mainframe as a
solution designed for smaller enterprises, Linux-specific applications, and
traditional customers with more modest workload demands. So what does the z990 offer that ups the stakes for
IBM, its customers, and competing vendors? First, the z990 pushes the zSeries performance ceiling higher in virtually every
category, an achievement that is likely to sit well with both traditional IBM
enterprise customers and new clients who are utilizing mainframe solutions
for key ebusiness applications. Additionally,
enhancements to the z990’s virtualization capabilities make the new server an
even more compelling high-end server and datacenter consolidation solution,
especially when one takes the performance/efficiency advantages mainframes
offer over conventional servers into account. The z990’s On/Off CoD solutions and WLC pricing changes are likely to be
attractive among zSeries customers who are feeling
pinched economically, and IBM’s new On Demand offerings could drive the
notion of and need for mainframe solutions into new industries, businesses,
and applications. Does this mean that the z990 represents the opening salvo of a mainframe assault that will drive conventional servers out of the datacenter and into the woods? Hardly, since mainframes remain, for now anyway, primarily a tool for enterprises that require and are willing to pay for the highest levels of IT stability, performance, and security. But this newest IBM zSeries solution demonstrates that a technology most IT vendors declared dead, buried, and gone to dust years ago remains vital, growing, and powerful today. The fact is that while mainframes are highly geeky solutions in the best of times, IBM has driven its continuing zSeries Renaissance by successfully translating mainframe-computing technologies into mainline business values. Like other zSeries products before it, IBM designed the eServer z990 to meet the needs and solidify the loyalties of existing mainframe customers while at the same time opening up new venues for mainframe solutions. For that reason, the new IBM eServer z990 may be the biggest, fastest, ablest mainframe currently on the block, but we believe it is wiser to view it as simply the latest chapter in an ongoing story that will continue for many years to come. |