IBM Launches "System z10" Mainframe

Market Wire, February, 2008

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the System z10 mainframe , which will dramatically increase data center efficiency and improve performance by 100 percent while reducing power, cooling costs and floor space requirements.

-- A single System z10 is the equivalent of nearly 1,500 distributed servers, with up to an 85 percent smaller footprint, and 85 percent lower energy costs. It can consolidate x86 software licenses at up to a 30-to-1 ratio.

-- The new z10 is designed to be 50 percent faster, delivers up to 100 percent better performance for CPU-intensive jobs, and provides 70 percent more capacity than its z9 predecessor.

-- System z10 offers unmatched levels of security and automates the management and tracking of IT resources, in response to changing business conditions.

-- The next-generation, 64-processor mainframe uses Quad-Core technology. It was built from the start to be shared, offering greater performance over virtualized servers to support hundreds to hundreds of millions of users.

-- The z10 supports a broad range of workloads, including Linux, XML, Java, WebSphere and key Service Oriented Architecture -related workloads. In addition, IBM is working with Sun Microsystems and Sine Nomine Associates to pilot the Open Solaris operating system on System z, demonstrating the openness and flexibility of the mainframe.

Designed to Manage IT as a Service and Drive the New Enterprise Data Center

-- Designed to help businesses reduce inefficiency and complexity of today's data centers , but also share IT resources more efficiently and better align them to specific business objectives and business conditions.

-- Allows a business to more easily log, track, audit and chargeback every transaction, moving beyond basic virtualization (server partitioning) to a true IT infrastructure -- including business applications, such as security, storage, processing power -- that is provisioned on demand.

-- The end result is a business that manages IT as a service -- using a policy-driven system that doles out, manages and tracks appropriate resources where and when.

The new System z10 is the only server to provide a complete range of policy-driven functions, including authorization management, utilization management, just-in-time capacity and virtualization security.

Executive Quotes

"We believe System z10 is the most sophisticated piece of information technology ever built for any purpose. But to our clients, the value is simple," said Jim Stallings, General Manager, Enterprise Systems, IBM Systems & Technology Group. "This single system is capable of consolidating the work of up to thousands of servers -- sweeping the floor of the data center and reducing energy consumption, required floor space and the slew of costs associated with distributed server environments."

"We've implemented z10 systems in our parallel Sysplex environment, which is running live, mission-critical benefits applications for the world's top employers -- so availability, performance, and reliability are of utmost importance," said Sandee Kotowski, Manager of Mainframe Infrastructure, Hewitt Associates. "The IBM mainframe has been a key part of our IT infrastructure over the years, with clear cost benefits, but this new system takes that value proposition a leap ahead. The capacity and scale of this system changes the economics of the mainframe and is a significant step forward in addressing our constantly evolving technology needs."

Related Links

Official z10 Press Site

Mainframe Background and History

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IBM Media Contacts Ron Favali 727-489-7202 favali@us.ibm.com Kelly Sims 917-472-3456 Kelly.sims@us.ibm.com